The Flash: Survival of the Fastest
by Clash of the Legends
Summary: *Sequel to Rewriting History* 3 years later, things have return to a somewhat normalcy for Barry and his new girlfriend and partner Caitlin. That is until a new speedster arrives on scene claiming to be someone from their future and that he's here to help make them fast enough to survive the onslaught of the new Speedster, Godspeed, and the mysterious Speedster killer, Speed Demon.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer:** The following is a nonprofit Fan based story; The FLASH and all related characters are owned by DC comics, the CW and anyone I may have missed.

First of all a huge shout out to all of you who Reviewed, Favorited and Followed _The Flash: Rewriting History_.

Reviewers: **Killer Cold Hearts, Killie159, AReiss215, Guest (1), josephguy217, changingdestiny40, Flash frost, romario . hume, Skychild101, Guest (2),** and **Master Skywalker 121**

Guest 1: Well, we'll get to see the Snowbarry relationship evolve here. It is fairly important to the plot. Glad you liked the story.

Guest 2: Sad to see you leave just before the end of the story. Thing is Future Barry was unstable throughout the entire story and in the end, he just goes bat shit insane because everything is falling apart again that's why he might have felt OOC. If you do read this story, you'll probably be confused as to all the things happening.

Favorites: **Magic Detective, romario . hume, Twilight rasengan, Slyrocker, LuckDuckNicole, lole12312, wooleo11, Caspain Baratheon, greenhulk9, XWF1000, Immaaprince, BeatDaBest, Nerdman3000,** and **Master Skywalker 121**

Followers: **rachellelemon, Twilight rasengan, LuckDuckNicole, greenhulk9, Immaaprince, Nerdman3000, IvanNamikaze,** and **Ezvor123**

Ok first of all I apologize if I havn't privately PMed any reviewers. Its been a while and I cannot tell who I've already sent them to. So this time its on me.

Now, if there's nothing else to discuss lets dive on in.

* * *

 _The Flash: Survival of the Fastest_

Prologue

* * *

 **Undisclosed Time and Location**

Lightning dances through the ruins of a city as two figures run. One is clearly running away while the other is in pursuit.

 **Unknown P.O.V.**

Glad you could join me here. I would love to stay here and chat with you but I've got to move. You see that black speedster following me? Yeah, well he's been hunting me my whole life and right now it looks like he might just catch me and we do not want that to happen. Otherwise this will be a rather short tale.

Look I'd love to spill my life's story to you right now but I can't. You'll probably hear it later any way so I can give you the basic Idea. Ready? Here we go:

Basically, my mom died when I was young, like really, really young, so young, you'd probably say that's impossible. Well I like to think of Impossible as a term to describe something that hasn't been done yet. No real time to tell you how it was with dad. Either way calling my life hell would be an understatement but it did get better, boy did it get good. I found the man responsible for my mother's death, and I got him. I made a lot of friends. And just when I found that one person you've been searching your whole life for, this guy behind me comes in and snatches that person away. It didn't take him long but soon he took away almost everything from me leaving only a few of us.

So yeah, that's why I'm running. Survival. Probably our most primal and basic instincts as human beings. But don't worry, it's not like I don't have a plan. I do. It's a bit of a long shot and it involves the big "No, No" for speedsters. But if… no… when I succeed, everything will be exactly as it should be.

I cannot change things myself, but I can prepare The Flash for what's coming. I'll teach him everything he taught me and more. He'll be powerful enough to help me protect everyone.

I wish I could tell you more but I've got places to go and people to see. Hope I can catch you all earlier!

* * *

This is the end of the chapter

Please tell me what you liked, didn't like, look forward to/think will happen, or your general thoughts and comments, this'll help me make the story better; I'm a big boy so I can take criticism. And if you Review you get a Shout Out and questions answered either privately or in the next chapter.

 **SEVEN REVIEWS/FAVORITES/FOLLOWS AND I'LL UPDATE IN A WEEK. EVERY TWO OVER THAT AND I'LL DO ONE DAY SOONER.**

 **(i.e. 9 R/F/F = 6-day update)**

Have a Fantastic day


	2. Prelude to War

**Disclaimer:** The following is a nonprofit Fan based story; The FLASH and all related characters are owned by DC comics, the CW and anyone I may have missed.

Well, as Always I would like to say a massive thank you to everyone who showed/ is showing support for this new Story.

Reviewers: **romario . hume, Guest (1), AReiss215, Guest (2), Killer Cold Hearts, ShanouNash, Tayla, Snowbarryfordays** and **josephguy217**

 **Guest** (1): Yeah It's fine if you were confused. I wrote it so that major plot points wouldn't be spoiled. Like the character said, you'll hear the whole story eventually.

 **Guest** (2): Not understanding is OK, it was intentional.

 **ShanouNash:** Its fine if you don't understand. Like I said It was intentional to hide major plot points.

 **Tayla:** I'm glad you think it's good.

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You guys showed so much support that I am going to be putting up this chapter now that the administrative business is completed we can now progress with the story. Because Seriously that's why you all are here anyway.

* * *

 _The Flash: Survival of the Fastest_

Chapter 1: Prelude of War

* * *

 **October 2, 2017**

Things certainly had been strange over the last few years. Team Flash has grown and evolved since their second and third years. Barry and Caitlin were getting faster and more confident in their roles as the Flash and…well, Caitlin hadn't exactly come up with a good name for herself. Cisco offered names like Lady Flash, and Fast Track but Caitlin felt like they didn't feel right so instead she allowed others to call her whatever they liked. Most people just called her The Flash, just like Barry which could get extremely confusing when she and Barry were both in the field. After Eddie and Iris' wedding the two speedsters had decided to give them a shot. So here they were, Flash and his Partner, superhero coworkers, by day and by night they were Barry Allen and Caitlin Snow, Boyfriend and Girlfriend.

Cisco was starting to get more and more involved with his Vibe persona, even going out into the field with Barry and Caitlin every once in a while. When he wasn't doing that, the young engineer was left to be the only person running S.T.A.R. Labs especially after H.R. went back to his earth to have his novel published. In all honesty having H.R. around showed Team Flash that they didn't need the great Harrison Wells around as much as they initially thought. They had all grown so much in the past three years that they were no longer the same people.

Iris West-Thawne, as her name was now legally, was living across the river in Keystone City with her husband Detective Eddie Thawne. She still worked at CCPN as her commute wasn't that much longer and things between her and Eddie couldn't be better. There had been some rough patches such as when Barry told Iris and Joe how he and her were married on Earth-2, but that didn't stop them. She and Eddie had just returned from their honeymoon which took them all over the United States, from Coast City to Happy Harbor. Eddie was really starting to come into his own as the hero Cobalt Blue. He fought crime and protected Keystone like Barry would Central City. They'd even team up once in a while when needed.

Joe was still working as a Detective for the Central City Police Department while Wally worked part time tuning up the Police Department Patrol Cars. Wally had gone through some adjustments because of Flashpoint, Dr. Alchemy and Savitar. He wanted to have powers like Barry, Caitlin and Jesse and when he had the chance he almost took Alchemy up on his offer he got his powers but chose to use them how he wanted.

* * *

 **Central City, Barry and Caitlin's Apartment**

 **7:48 AM**

"So, what do you want to do today?" Barry asked the woman hooked on his arm as they lay on their couch. He and Caitlin had been come an official couple in June, six months after Iris and Eddie's wedding and one month following the defeat of the self proclaimed 'God of Motion' Savitar about a month after that they moved in together.

"I don't have any plans." Caitlin said. "We could always just spend the day doing Netflix and chill."

The Flash chuckled. "Yeah well, that's what we did last night. you know, before we fell asleep on the couch with me being your personal mattress and pillow."

"Quite complaining, you were the one who had a personal blanket." Caitlin huffed before looking at the clock. "Well… you should be over at the precinct and I should head over to S.T.A.R. Labs. Other wise we'll be late."

"You know, as your boss, if you give me a good reason for your tardiness I'll over look it." Caitlin smiled before pulling back from Barry. "Besides, we both have super speed. We can be ready and on time in legit thirty seconds or less."

"Sorry boss, but I promised myself I wouldn't date my employer."

"Oh? Then as the guy you are dating what does that make me?" Barry asked feigning hurt.

"The nerdy forensic assistant I fell in love with." Caitlin answered. Barry smiled and gave her a chaste kiss on the lips.

"Come on. We should get moving." On cue Barry's phone began to vibrate. Caller ID showed Joe's name. "Well, duty calls. Are we still on for tonight?"

"Are we talking about training or Dinner?"

"Well, it is Tuesday so that means date night."

"Then of course. I'll see you at S.T.A.R. Labs Barry." There was a flash of blue and yellow lightning and both Barry and Caitlin were dressed and ready for the day, including eating a hearty breakfast. They shared one last kiss before heading to their respective jobs.

* * *

 **Central City, Just Outside the City Center**

 **8:34 AM**

While the two speedsters worked, a blue portal opened up in an ally not too far from the city center. A figure wearing a white body suit coated in white lightning came racing out dragging a man behind him.

"Damn… Where the 'ell are we?" He demanded of the white clad speedster.

" _ **Not where, when."**_ He corrected. His voice was deep, and menacing, there was even a slight echo to it making it slightly difficult to understand some of his words. " _ **Now…If you want me to return the rest of your speed all you've got to do is fight the Flash.**_ "

"Better Idea. How about I just kill you now and take my speed back myself!" He went to throw a punch but the white speedster caught it. Using strength higher than what would normally be found in a speedster he brought the other man to his knees as he twisted his arm and threatened to snap it like a twig.

" _ **Don't try my patience. I have a low tolerance for Failures**_ …" With that he released his arm and vanished into another blue portal. Shortly after he left there was the sonic boom that shattered all the windows around them.

Whoever this white speedster was, he was fast. Fast enough to easily leave sound in the dust.

The man who was left behind stood back up and rubbed his arm in pain. As much as he wanted his full power back things didn't look that good for him. He challenged the white speedster to a race and lost. His punishment, he lost most of his speed. Now to get back the thing he loved most he had to comply with the will of a madman. And so, he walked out into the city center.

Dozens of people; men women and children, were out and about enjoying this particually ordinary day completely unaware of the man in their midst.

A sinister smirk spread across his face before he crouched to the ground and the muscles in his legs flexed and bulged in size. His mission: Cause chaos and panic, two things he was exceptionally good at thanks to his abilities.

"I need everyone geared up and mobilizing in three!" Captain Singh ordered

"Hey Joe, what's going on?" Barry asked as he came down the stairs from his lab to see, Joe, Captain Singh and Julian gearing up.

"Disturbance downtown Allen." Julian said as he holstered his gun. "Meta-Human."

Barry watched the police squad leave and ran back up to his lab answering his phone as Cisco called.

" _Barry we've got major trouble all over Central City!"_ Cisco cried into the phone. The feedback from the Meta-Human App was going completely crazy as reports and sightings were coming in all over downtown.

"Yeah, I heard. I'm heading there now. Anything to tell us what we are dealing with?"

" _Folks are saying there's a Meta-Human tearing up downtown, not much else."_ Cisco explained as Barry flashed into his suit. _"Go kick his ass buddy."_

" _Barry, wait, I'm going with you!"_ Caitlin said to her boyfriend. " _Give me thirty seconds and I'll be right there by your side."_ She voiced her desire to aid the Flash against this new Meta mainly because this was an unknown Meta-Human. If it had been someone like Weather Wizard, they would know.

"It's OK Cait. I've got this one." In a crackle of yellow lightning Barry was out of his lab, in his suit and on his way to the scene of the disturbance.

* * *

 **Downtown Central City**

Barry arrived on the scene in a crackle of golden electricity. His eyes quickly scanned the area but he couldn't see anyone, just shattered windows, crushed cars, dented buildings cracked sidewalks and ruined streets.

"'BOUT TIME YA GOT 'ERE FLASH!" Barry looked up to see a man standing on the ledge of a high roof. The man appeared to wear casual attire including only a black muscle shirt, dark leather pants, boots and a domino mask fitted with lenses. His messy blond hair fluttered slightly in the breeze. Barry could also make out what looked like a wicked looking scar on the left side of his face disappearing under his mask.

" _ **So, who the Hell are you supposed to be**_?" Barry asked not really caring what this guy's deal was, it was probably to try and get famous quick.

"The way he talked ab't ya, he made it sound like ya were som' kind o' Demon."

" _ **Who said I was a demon?**_ " Barry questioned but the man ignored him.

Instead of answering the man leaped off the building much to Barry's shock but he landed on the ground and Barry watched as the man's legs began to compress like springs.

"Don't matter… long as I kill ya 'e promised ta give me back my power!" His legs were throbbing as they compressed far too much for a normal human. "I've been waitin' for this moment for a long-time flash! YOU'LL PAY FOR WHAT YA DID TO MY EYE!" He roared as he sprung forward at Barry creating a sonic boom as he did.

Barry was so caught off guard by this man's speed he hardly registered the supersonic punch as it collided with his face.

" _BARRY!"_ The Scarlet Speedster could hear Cisco through the coms, no doubt his vitals were going nuts as his jaw got rocked. He skidded across the ground before pushing himself back up and wiping the blood from his lip.

" _ **OK, this guy as some kind of propulsion ability**_." Barry said into his com-link as he watched the man pull his fist out of the side of a building. " _ **Oh, and apparently punching a hole in a concrete wall does not hurt him**_."

" _Yeesh…That can't be good for his hands."_

"DIE FLASH!" The Man yelled before propelling himself at Barry once more only for Barry to move out of the way. Barry watched in slow motion as the man flipped midair landing on the side of another building and began to once again compress his legs like springs.

As he charged once more a flash of blue lighting arced across the road as Caitlin came rushing in striking the propulsion meta out of the air and to the ground.

"What!?" The Meta looked up at Caitlin and Barry rather confused. "Two Flashes? There's only supposed to be one of ya!"

" _ **Lucky you. You get two for the price of one."**_ Caitlin fired back before turning to Barry. " _ **Ready to go Flash?**_ " Caitlin asked

" _ **After you.**_ " Barry smiled back as the two speedsters moved to intercept the meta.

He sprang forward but they veered away and came back in hitting him in his blind spots. It was fairly easy for them to figure out that he could only use his propulsion to go in a straight line and while he was using it he could not stop or even turn unless he had something to act upon like another wall. The man took off once again like a rocket only this time he wasn't aiming for either speedster. Instead he ricocheted off the ground then an adjacent ledge then a wall. He continued this pattern while Barry and Caitlin tried to chase him.

Unfortunately, the man seemed to be getting faster and faster each time he pushed off a new surface. Soon he was moving so fast that Barry and Caitlin were actually having a hard time figuring out where he was going.

Out of the corner of his eye Barry barely had time to react as he saw one of his fists barreling towards Caitlin at speeds easily over Mach 3. Pushing her out of the way Barry took the fist to his jaw and he felt his entire body rattle in pain as he momentarily lost consciousness.

" _ **FLASH**_ _!_ " Caitlin cried out rushing to his side.

"HAHAHAHA! EVEN THE MIGHTY FLASH CAN'T KEEP UP WITH ME!" Suddenly He was behind Caitlin in a position to push off, of her.

Thanks to the Speed Force she had enough time to turn around and block his feet as he planted two strong legs against her arms. Pain shot through them like a thousand needles indicating to Caitlin that the force was sufficient to crack her bones. She was blown back and the man landed on top of Barry pinning the Flash's arm with his legs as he cocked his fist.

"Ever see them old cartoons? The ones with a boxing glove on a spring?" Caitlin watched as began to compress before firing off in Barry's face, retract and repeating the process.

Cisco helplessly watched the monitors as Barry's vitals spiked with each hit to his face, chest and stomach. This new Meta-Human was showing no mercy as he used his fist like a spring-loaded gun to repetitively beat down Barry.

Caitlin couldn't take seeing her boyfriend in pain. Blue lightning arced over her arms. She rapidly spun her arms creating large cyclones of wind that threw the Meta off of Barry. She ran over to Barry to check on him.

" _ **You OK**_?"

" _ **Been Better…**_ " Barry groaned

The Meta got back up and glared at Caitlin and Barry. He was ready to launch himself again when Gun fire filled the air. The Speedsters could see several Central City police officers open fire on this Meta-Human, but he seemed to be unaffected by the bullets as the hit him and fell to the ground.

"Heh, you think Bullets will hurt me?" He scooped up all the bullets in his hand. He cocked his right arm as if he was to throw a shotput and Barry watched as his forearm compress like a spring. "HAVE A TASTE OF YER OWN MEDICINE YA DAMN PIGS!" His arm shot forward as he unleashed the bullets like buckshot at Mach 3.

Using Their speed Barry and Caitlin raced the bullets. They were both weak after that beat down he had been given and could barely hear or register anything anyone was saying to them. Desperately Barry grabbed each and every bullet saving the police officer's lives.

One last sonic boom rippled through the air and Barry felt a searing pain in his stomach. He placed his hand on his stomach and felt the red liquid beginning to spill out.

"I heard you were fast Flash, but it looks like even you can't dodge a bullet going Mach 3." The Meta-Human chuckled darkly as he juggled what looked to be half a dozen bullets in his right hand.

" _ **BARRY**_ _!"_ Caitlin yelled in her distorted voice so no one could catch the Flash's identity.

"DIE FLASH!" The Meta cocked his arm. His muscles bulged and condensed. And in slo motion he fired his arm forward which made a noise like a cannon.

Suddenly there was a mighty roar like thunder on a clear day. Barry and the Meta turned just in time to see a golden-yellow bolt of lightning blitz onto the scene. Inside Barry could barely make out what looked like a man who was in a position to deliver a painful dropkick, which is exactly what he did as his feet collided with the other Meta-Human's face propelling him quite some distance down the street.

The Meta looked upon the new figure that arrived and his face contorted into rage and fear. "This ain't over Flashes! When I come back We're gonna race for real!" The New speedster charged the propulsion Meta-Human but he leaped into the air easily clearing several tall buildings before disappearing from Barry's line of sight.

That's when Barry got a good look at this other New Meta-Human, he was clearly a speedster, wearing a Crimson colored jacket, navy blue pants with lightning patterns running up the outside of his legs and boots. On top of his head were only two articles of clothing; a red scarf around the lower half of his face and a pair of goggles covering his eyes.

" _ **Are you OK?"**_ The mysterious speedster asked as he approached Barry.

In a crackle of blue lightning Caitlin was by Barry's side. She ignored the newcomer and devoted her full attention to Barry. " _ **You OK**_?" She asked her friend. Barry just groaned in pain as he clutched the bullet wound in his stomach. " _ **Thanks for your help but we had that under control.**_ "

" _ **Really? Cause from where I was it looked like you were getting your asses handed to you**_." The Speedster looked down and saw the bullet wound. " _ **Here, let me help you. I can get that out."**_ He began to vibrate his hand and Barry instantly thought to how both the Reverse-Flash, Zoom and even Savitar used their vibrating hands to kill people. This guy was about to kill him.

Lightning flashed in Barry's eyes as he entered flight or fight mode and he grabbed Caitlin tightly and took of a break neck speeds. Barry ran all the way back to STAR Labs before collapsing onto the cortex floor from Blood loss.

* * *

 **S.T.A.R. Labs**

"Cisco! Help me get him on the gurney!" Caitlin ordered as they draped the speedster's arms over their shoulders and dragged him to Caitlin's lab. Caitlin would be damned if she was going to let Barry die from something as trivial as a bullet, he was the Flash for god's sake something like this shouldn't have even hurt him.

Because Barry had begun to heal around the bullet Caitlin was forced to cut him open with a scalpel in order to take the bullet out herself, which was not too difficult, but there was still an awful lot of blood on top of Barry's other injuries; Cracked jaw, five broken ribs, a punctured lung, cracked skull, a severe concussion, all on top of the obvious bullet wound.

"Ugh…" Barry groaned as he opened his eyes.

"Easy man, you really had us worried there." Cisco placed a hand on Barry's shoulder to keep him down.

"What happened?" Barry asked completely disoriented.

"You don't remember what happened." Caitlin asked as she shined a light in his eyes to make sure they were still reacting to light. "That's to be expected, you do have a concussion. You're vitals read you fell unconscious more than once in that fight."

"I just remember being taken off guard by his speed and him hitting me the first time."

"Dude you took a supersonic punch to the face." Cisco interrupted. His tone was both excitement at the prospect of another person being able to use the supersonic punch and also upset that it was a villain. "We've got to see if we can recruit this guy to our side."

"Yeah well, next time I see him I'll be sure to ask him if he isn't too busy punching me at Mach speeds." Barry replied while Caitlin cleaned a cut that had formed just above his eyebrow.

"How about we try and learn more about this Meta-Human instead of barreling in head first so he can do this to you all over again." Caitlin's tone clearly indicated she was unhappy with what transpired.

"Well, from your fail of a fight we gather that his ability lies in propulsion." Cisco said looking down at the data on his tablet "Though I'm not exactly sure how he could take so many bullets to his back and just have them ricochet off him."

Caitlin just ignored the ramblings and gave Barry the rundown of his injuries. "You have a cracked jaw, five broken ribs, a punctured lung, cracked skull, a severe concussion, all on top of the bullet in your stomach."

"That might explain why it's painful to breathe." Barry joked earning him a slight scowl from Caitlin. "And here I thought it was because my beautiful girlfriend is looking out for me."

"Even with your healing factor it'll take you a few hours to fully heal even after that I still need to monitor you because of the concussion."

"Alright, but we should at least let Iris, Joe, Wally and Eddie know that I'm OK, no doubt they heard about the Flash's little scuffle by now."

"Speaking of your scuffle, we were getting a massive spike in energy readings." Cisco said. "Any idea what might have caused that since I doubt it was Ricochet."

"Really? You're naming the Meta who nearly beat Barry to death right now?"

"Someone has to do it Caitlin." Cisco's then went into a rant about the importance of nicknames for all the Meta-Humans and skilled individuals while Barry got up and out of the bed.

It was rather painful but he managed to make his way to the cortex and while his friends meant well Barry needed to think. His mind kept drifting to that other speedster who showed up out of nowhere then tried to throw a vibrating hand through him.

"Barry, Thank god you're OK!" Barry looked up to see Joe, Wally and Iris entering into the Cortex. When they heard what happened that's to social media they dropped everything and made their way to STAR Labs to make sure Barry was OK.

"What happened out there Barry? People are saying all sorts of crazy things." Iris approached her best friend wanting to know what was happening. "Some are saying how the Flash and his partner failed to stop a man who could bounce all over the place and some are even saying that they saw another Flash show up in the end."

"I wish I could tell you what happened out there Iris, but I have no clue myself." Barry sighed heavily.

"Is there another speedster running around out there?" Joe was honestly hoping for a break from all these evil speedsters. First it was the Reverse-Flash and then Zoom, Trajectory, the Rival and Savitar. So far bad speedsters out weighted good speedsters 5:4 so any new speedster was more than likely to be evil. "Because we just dealt with Savitar and I'd hate for another Evil Speedster to be running amuck. Again."

"I don't know Joe" Barry was mad with himself for failing against not one but two Meta-Humans; one kicked his ass hard and he ran away from the other. "But for now we're going to work on catching Ricochet."

"Actually, his name is Recoil. He's a Meta-Human Speedster with the ability to utilize his muscles like springs granting him exceptionally high acceleration." Everyone in STAR Labs turned to the entrance of the Cortex to see a young man, who could easily be mistaken for Barry if not for his brown eyes and slightly bulkier stature, walk in.

On reflex Joe reached for his gun but in a flurry of yellow electricity the young man grabbed the gun and disassembled it. "Please detective, There's no need for guns, besides I hate guns." The man said casually.

"Who the hell are you?" Barry asked the mysterious man completely shocked that he had the Speed Force.

"Jeeze, you're acting like this is the first time we've met, which technically it is but I saved your ass earlier and you never thanked me." Everyone's eyes widened. This was the other speedster that was there earlier.

"Just who the hell are you?" Barry demanded again with his patience wearing thin. No matter what this man answered he knew he was not going to believe him, there was no way he'd fall for it thrice.

The stranger took a deep breath before explaining. "Look, this will probably sound crazy, and you probably won't believe me given our point in the time line but my name is Benjamin Joseph Allen, I'm your son from the future."

* * *

This is the end of the chapter

Please tell me what you liked, didn't like, look forward to/think will happen, or your general thoughts and comments, this'll help me make the story better; I'm a big boy so I can take criticism. And if you Review you get a Shout Out and questions answered either privately or in the next chapter.

 **SEVEN REVIEWS, FAVORITES OR FOLLOWS AND I'LL UPDATE IN A WEEK. EVERY FIVE OVER THAT AND I'LL DO ONE DAY SOONER.**

 **(i.e. 12 R/F/F = 6-day update)**

Have a Fantastic day


	3. Herald from the Future

**Disclaimer:** The following is a nonprofit Fan based story; The FLASH and all related characters are owned by DC comics, the CW and anyone I may have missed.

Special thanks to everyone who Favorited, Followed and Reviewed.

Reviews: **ShanouNash, Topherlee2, thealexofevil, josephguy217, Snowbarryfordays, AReiss215, Guest,** and **Killie219**

 **ShanouNash:** Yes, Benjamin is Barry and Caitlin's son. You're the only one so far who picked up on that tiny detail from the previous story. Kudos to you.

 **Guest:** We will be learning a little more about him throughout the whole story. We'll start in this chapter.

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Well, you guys asked via reviews/favorites and follows so here's the next chapter so dive on in.

* * *

 _The Flash: Survival of the Fastest_

Chapter 2: Herald from the Future

* * *

 **S.T.A.R. Labs, The Cortex**

Barry stared at the monitors displaying Benjamin in his cell. Almost immediately after hearing this man claim to be his son, Barry grabbed him and shoved him into the Pipeline practically throwing away the key as he did. And since then he couldn't break the scowl on his face nor tear his gaze from the video feed.

Was "Benjamin" really expecting Barry to fall for a faux identity a third time? What was that old saying? Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me. Whatever did it say about being fooled three times?

"You OK?" Barry looked over his shoulder to see Iris approaching him. Like Barry she was concerned about this Benjamin character, the reveal of Jay Garrick being a serial killer named Hunter Zolomon AKA Zoom weighed heavily on all of them not too long ago so of course they were skeptical.

"I'm fine Iris." Iris could tell Barry was not fine. "It's just weird you know? A stranger just waltzes in here and says 'Hey I'm your son from the future!' It just doesn't work that way." Barry sighed. "And I would never name my kid Benjamin, maybe Henry or Joe, but not Benjamin, but I think I get why we would give him Joseph as his middle name. I mean… I know my future self and his Caitlin thought about Ben as a name for their kid but I kind of want to distance myself from him…"

Iris felt a small smile cross her lips. The prospect of her and Barry together had been dancing around them, the Space Time Continuum and Alternate Realities even after she agreed to marry Eddie. She would be lying if she said she didn't feel something for Barry and hearing him talk about a future where he's a father made Iris happy. Casting aside her thoughts and any romantic feelings for Barry she just knew instinctively he would be a great dad; after all he had two of the best dads in any universe.

"Look Barry, Wells and Zoom played all of us for fools." Iris placed a hand on Barry's shoulder. "They set it up so that they fell into the roles we all needed, a mentor, a friend, a scientist, a lover…" She trailed off when she said the last one. "But Ben…he's different, I don't know but I feel like we can trust him."

"'Jay' was the same way Iris and that almost ended extremely badly for us, Caitlin especially."

"I'm not saying we should take every word he says as completely true but maybe we should give him some benefit of the doubt. You wouldn't be Barry if you didn't actively look for the good in people. And for what it's worth, I believe he's telling the truth. Call it Auntie Iris' Intuition."

Barry looked down at his feet. Iris was right. It was in his nature to look for the good in everyone, that's how he believed in his dad's innocence for fourteen years. "I'll think about it Iris, but for now he stays in the pipeline." Barry returned his gaze to the monitor to see Benjamin waving up at the camera.

* * *

 **S.T.A.R. Labs, Caitlin's Lab**

"Pretty weird, isn't it?" Caitlin looked up from her desk to see Cisco in her doorway.

"Hmm?"

"Your and Barry's son from the future I mean."

"Oh… right… that…" Caitlin said turning back to her work. "I guess it is a little weird considering…"

"What? You and Barry have been dating for only four months. Don't tell me you haven't hit a home run yet."

Caitlin's face went as red as Barry's suit. "We… we haven't done any of that Cisco!" She was really flustered. "I mean… yes we've kissed and slept together… not 'slept' slept together… just cuddling and… you know kissing…"

Cisco raised an eyebrow in disbelief. He figured Barry and Caitlin would be all over each other at this point. "You mean to tell me you and Barry have been together for four months and you haven't moved past First Base yet?" Cisco asked not really believing it.

"That, is an extremely personal bit of information Cisco, one I don't think you need to know!"

"Why not?" Cisco whined. "Two of my best friends are dating each other. I need to know that you're both OK because if this doesn't work I am going to be the one to pick up the pieces."

"Cisco…"

"Hey guys." Cisco and Caitlin turned to see Barry standing in the door way. "We're going to let Ben out. I could use you guys down there."

* * *

 **STAR Labs, The Pipeline**

Ben looked up as the door to his cell opened up showcasing Team Flash in its entirety.

"So, I take it you're willing to listen to me now?" Ben jumped to his feet and was just about to step out of the cell when Barry held up a hand gesturing him to stop.

"We're going to set a few ground rules." Barry said

"Sure, I'll do whatever you guys want me to if it gets me out of here."

"Cisco" The engineer walked forward and pulled out a device from behind his back. It was small, black and had a glowing blue square in the center.

"This is a power suppression anklet." Cisco explained as he presented it to Ben who took it.

"You will wear that at all times of the day." Barry stepped in. "With a radius of Three miles of S.T.A.R. Labs." Ben nodded in agreement. "So long as you wear it you will have no access to your powers and we will know where you are at all times.

"OK, so this is like _White Collar_." Ben said to himself. "Guess that makes me Neal Caffrey and you Peter Burke doesn't it Dad. Does that mean Mom's Elizabeth?" He asked giving Caitlin a smile.

"Don't call me that!" Caitlin snapped a little too menacingly. She noted Ben's hurt expression and backed off slightly. "Please…"

Barry noticed how uncomfortable Caitlin had become after being called mom. Seeing that hurt hurt him as well so he instinctively moved to her side. If this between them worked out maybe one day they'd be OK with being called Mom and Dad, but for now it was for the best that they remain Barry and Caitlin. "In fact, you should just call us by our actual names."

"I'm sorry…" Ben apologized allowing Barry to continue to give Ben the rundown of rules.

"Only two of us have the keys to that anklet." Barry continued. "And you will be supervised by either Joe or myself at all times of the day in addition to that anklet." Ben seemed to be OK with spending all day everyday with his dad and his grandpa.

"If for any reason you break that anklet, I will haul your ass back into this cell faster than you can blink."

"…Doubt you can actually catch me…" Ben grumbled under his breath so no one could hear.

"And if you do anything, and I mean ANYTHING to hurt any of my friends I will personally have Vibe annihilate your body from the inside out." Barry said each word firmly as he slowly walked forward so that he was inches away from Ben's face. "Do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal clear Da – I mean, Barry." Ben quickly corrected himself. "I'm going to shut up and put this on know." Ben awkwardly pointed at the anklet before putting it on his ankle.

A moment later he had the anklet on and Caitlin stepped forward. "Barry, would you and Benjamin follow me to my lab? I would like to run a few tests."

Barry simply nodded. "Lead the way Mo – I mean, Dr. Snow." Ben responded.

* * *

 **S.T.A.R. Labs, The Cortex**

While Barry, Caitlin and Ben went to the bio engineer's lab the rest of team flash gathered in the Cortex.

"So… I hate to address the elephant in the room but… by a show of hands who trust Barry and Caitlin's son from the future?" Cisco asked Joe, Wally, Iris and Eddie. None of the team raised their hands. "Oh good. So, I'm not the only one." Cisco seemed satisfied they were all in some form of agreement.

"It's not that we don't trust him Cisco, it's because we just don't know him." Joe answered. "We have been fooled before."

"Yeah but Dr. Wells and Jay manipulated all of us for their own personal motives. Ben just feels different. Like he isn't hiding anything." Iris said

"He could still be lying." Eddie said. "It's happened a little too often for comfort.

"I think Barry and Caitlin could handle him if he turns out to be a bad guy." Wally said. "But I have to agree with my big sister. I don't think he's a bad kid."

"Think you could send a message to Harry and Jesse?" Joe asked Cisco. "If things go bad having them here to help would certainly be a blessing. Having four speedsters on our side is better than three."

"Or, Cisco could vibe him." Wally voiced. "Find out everything he's hiding before it comes to bite us in the ass."

"I could, though I've never really vibed someone from the future before."

"Didn't you do it to the Future Barry three years ago?" Iris asked recalling those events.

"Yeah but that was not intentional. My powers were just starting to flourish when that happened. I honestly thought I was on a wacky drug trip for a while. It has been much easier to vibe people from other Earths than from the future." Cisco remembered his first vibe. It was not very fun since he ended up having a seizure and probably would have died had Future-Barry not found him convulsing on the floor

"Well, maybe you should at least try." Joe offered.

"Maybe later… for now who says we listen in?" Cisco asked. This time everyone else agreed as Cisco turned on the two-way speakers so they could hear.

* * *

 **S.T.A.R. Labs, Caitlin's Lab**

Ben sat on the gurney while Caitlin took samples of his blood to run her tests. Ben was extremely compliant with every test Caitlin wanted to run, even the full body scan, which required him to remove his shirt and Caitlin could not deny that he looked like a model male specimen one would find on the cover of an Abercrombie & Fitch. One thing she noted was the tribal band tattoo on his right arm. It was a simple black but it looked like lightning bolts racing around in an endless circle. She would have to ask him about it later, since she was curious as to why her son would ever get a tattoo.

Caitlin sat at her desk analyzing the samples and running all her tests when Barry walked over towards her, his gaze never left Benjamin as he made his way over to the doctor.

"Find anything?" Barry asked his girlfriend.

"Nothing out of the ordinary" Caitlin replied. "Tests are showing that he has a connection to the Speed Force but there's something off about it."

"How so?"

"It's like that time Harry stole 2% of your speed and gave it to Zoom." Caitlin explained "Its registering as a 90% connection to the Speed Force."

"So he's somehow only got a connection to 90% of the Speed Force? Did he say how that happened?" Caitlin shook her head.

"No, I only just got the results."

"What about a DNA test?" Barry didn't really care if this guy had he Speed Force or not, what bugged him was his claim of being his son. "Is he… our son?" He knew that was the question on both their minds. The one that needed to be addressed that neither wanted to think about.

"Barry we both know there are people who can pass off as other people. Remember Everyman and Eobard Thawne?"

"Yeah, it's just what he said bugs me." Barry leaned against her desk and looked into her eyes, the eyes he found so easy to get lost in. "I want to believe it, but at the same time doubt is plaguing me.

"His DNA is a 78% match to yours and 22% match to mine but if we ignore the possibility that he isn't who he said he is then…" Caitlin grabbed the results of the DNA test and handed them to Barry. "According to the tests he is our son."

Barry took the news with a huge grain of salt before sighing heavily. "It doesn't mean we have to believe it."

"Barry..." Caitlin wanted to say something but she just couldn't bring herself to say anything. Ben being here was definitely weird. She and Barry had only just started dating not even five months ago and suddenly a thirty-year-old young man shows up and tells them. 'Surprise! You're going to have a kid one day.' In a way, it reminded her of how much the universe seemed to still want Iris and Barry together, but this time it was telling them that she and Barry were going to stay together. It was nice, but she felt like this set her future in stone.

"Cait, I just don't want anything to happen to you. My future-self screwed around with everyone… Zoom kidnapped you because of me and I just don't want you to go through that again. Heck… I've even made a mistake that cost you your mother." Caitlin dropped her head slightly when she was reminded of those dreadful experiences.

"You two find anything interesting from your tests?" Ben asked as he walked over to them pulling a STAR Labs sweater over his body. "Look Barry, I-"

"I don't care what the lab results say." Barry cut off the young speedster. "Caitlin's results may indicate that you're our son but I refuse to believe it."

"Look, I'll tell you whatever you want to know. I'll do whatever I have to so you believe me fully."

"Good, because Caitlin is going to be asking you some questions." Barry said.

"I am?" The bio-engineer asked to which Barry nodded. "Right, of course I am." Caitlin flashed over to her desk and grabbed her tablet. Earning a slightly surprised look from Ben.

"You're a speedster!?" He sounded shocked and surprised which certainly got Barry and Caitlin's complete undivided attention. You'd think their own kid would know if both of his parents had super speed.

"Yes… how do you not know that?" Caitlin asked.

Well…because… because…" Ben was seemingly stumped. "I guess… by the time I'm born… Mo- Caitlin's powers are gone."

"Gone?" Barry asked "What do you mean by gone?"

Ben lowered his head. "I mean they might have been stolen… most likely by a speedster clad all in white. I've crossed paths with him before. He called himself Godspeed."

"Godspeed…" Caitlin quietly repeated the name of the man who would steal her powers. Steal one of the best parts of her life. "Who's that?"

"He's a speedster like us… in a way he's a lot like Zoom or even Savitar but… different. He wants to be the fastest but he doesn't want to be the only speedster. Though if he thinks you're wasting your gifts he takes away your powers. And unlike Zoom he can really do it."

"OK… well on that note… what do you say to answering a few of our questions?" Barry could tell talking about this Godspeed was hard for Ben. He must have done something more than just take away Caitlin's powers. They'd have to ask more about that later.

"Ben nodded. "Yeah… that's cool… I mean… let's just start… before I babble too much…"

Caitlin smiled. Ben really was a lot like her and Barry. "First question. What is your full name." Barry gave Caitlin a 'for real' look. "What? If you want me to run a polygraph test I need some form of a baseline."

The Flash sighed before motioning for Ben to answer the question.

Ben breathed in and began to speak. "My full name, like I said, is Benjamin Joseph Allen. Or Ben for short. You named me Ben because you didn't want me growing up thinking I had to live up to Joe, or Henry Allen. I think you chose it because you liked how easily it rolled off your tongues. You chose Joseph as my middle name because of grandpa Joe."

The two speedsters nodded in acceptance so Caitlin moved on to the next question. "When's your birthday?"

Ben bit his lip, much in the same way Caitlin would when something bothered her. "This is where it gets tricky. I am twenty-five years old, and I was born on June 16 2018."

That got Caitlin and Barry's attention. If that was Ben's birthday, then Caitlin should already be a month pregnant with him. The problem was, Barry and Caitlin were taking it slow. They haven't exactly done the dance in the sheets yet.

"Wait a minute!" Barry interrupted. You're born in June of next year?"

"Yup."

"That's impossible! I'm not pregnant!" Caitlin fired in defense.

"Yes, you are not pregnant. And so long as you aren't I can stick around with no adverse strain on myself or the timeline. But like I said, my age is where it gets tricky, like really tricky. Biologically and mentally I am twenty-five years old, chronologically and maybe emotionally I am only twelve."

"How is that possible?" Barry asked.

"Well, you see. I was born with my connection to the Speed Force. The only problem was my connection wasn't what you'd call perfect so everything's a little out of whack, hence the 90% connection you undoubtedly noticed Mom, specifically, my aging is what's really messed up. I age about twenty-five months in a year. Basically, you guys age a day while I age two. So yeah your pregnancy with me lasted a little shorter than you probably wanted. For what it's worth, the problem is now fixed. I age at a normal rate now."

"How'd you manage school?" Caitlin asked being the academic. She couldn't possibly imagine how Ben went through school if he was aging rapidly and possibly skipping grades every year.

"Well, I was home-schooled…" Ben rubbed the back of his neck. "It kind of sucked but it was for the best. I might have been physically the right age but you always told me that I just wasn't emotionally ready for something like public school considering I was mentally seven when I should have been entering high school."

"Ok, what's with the tattoo on your upper right bicep?" Caitlin asked immediately noticing a slight change in Ben's body.

"It's… a reminder… of a time when I wasn't fast enough." Ben said as he clenched the location of his tattoo tightly.

"Do you mind telling us what happened?" Barry asked "You said you'd tell us anything we want to know." Caitlin gave Barry a slight glare. "I mean you don't have to tell us anything if you don't want to."

"Uh… yes… I do mind actually… I lost something really precious to me that day… so you'd understand why I don't want to talk about it… maybe some other time."

"Look Ben… You mother and I…" Barry shared a look with Caitlin, he wanted to see if it was OK with her to address her as Ben's mother. For him it honestly felt strange, but in a good way, to call Caitlin Ben's Mother. "We've been through the ringer ourselves. We've lost things we've cared about to… and I know you're probably feeling angry but you need to let people in. If you don't, it will just consume you and you won't heal."

"Yeah… I'd love to do that Da… Barry… but I don't think I'm ready for that just…"

"So… uh… why come here, to this time?" Barry asked this time.

Ben immediately flinched at the question before hanging his head. "I came back because you need my help."

"Help with what?" Caitlin asked noticing the truth in his words.

"We've gotten along just fine so far." Barry commented folding his arms across his chest.

"It's not just you that needs my help… It's also me that needs your help. You see in my timeline I have a problem…"

"What sort of problem?"

"The speedster I mentioned before, Godspeed, well, he sort of created dozens if not hundreds of other speedsters and unleashed them all over the world, turning it into his own personal playground. No one can stop him. I was even there when he killed the entire Justice League by himself."

"The what League?" Barry asked a little confused.

Immediately Ben slapped a hand over his mouth muttering a slew of profanities directed towards himself. "Sorry… that was a spoiler…"

"So you need our help to beat this Godspeed and his what Speed Legion?" Barry asked getting Ben back on topic.

"That… that is actually a pretty awesome name Barry." Ben complimented. "Speed Legion… I like it, if only it weren't for a bunch of high speed psychopaths. But either way it isn't just Godspeed and his Speed Legion. There's one other Speedster and he's out to kill me."

"Why?"

"I don't know. I know nothing about him aside from his name. Speed Demon."

"Speed Demon…" Barry pondered the name.

"And he's fast… He is the fastest speedster ever. I don't know how much faster he is but he can make The Reverse Flash, Zoom, Savitar and even Godspeed all look like they are standing still. I was actually running away from him just before I arrived here."

* * *

 **S.T.A.R. Labs, The Cortex**

A few questions later. Barry, Caitlin and Ben made their way to the cortex to join the rest of their team. The two Flashes were about to urge Ben to recant his tale but Cisco said the rest of them had already heard it. So here the were; Barry and Ben were standing in the middle of the Cortex while Cisco, Caitlin Iris, Eddie Wally and Joe stood behind the main terminal.

"So, how do we take down Ricochet?" Cisco asked the future speedster not wanting to use the man's real name.

" _Recoil_ ," Ben emphasized the Meta-Human's name as if daring Cisco into a naming war. "has the highest Acceleration Rate of any Speedster, well except for one other Speedster, but he's dead so we don't have to be worried about him." Ben pulled out a device from his pocket and after hitting a few keys Recoil's file came up on the main monitor.

"Whoa! That's cool!" Cisco eyed Ben's tech like a kid in a candy store. Future Tech always made him excited. "I gotta know how you did that."

"Easy there, Cisco, you're the one that will create this bad boy after all."

"Wait, so am I going to make it now that you've told me I'm going to make it? Or was I always going to make it?"

"Uh, I think it's the second one. I find that so long as what supposed to happen generally happens and I'm not super involved with it things just work themselves out. Causality loop you know."

"Guys focus!" Barry lightly snapped the nerds out of there moment so they could continue.

"Right, well in my time, Recoil's Acceleration is insane. He could go from Zero to Mach 10 in one second." Ben explained. "That's all thanks to The Speed Force granting him the ability to use his muscles like hundreds of springs allowing him to exert tremendous force and take enormous amounts of shock."

"That's why bullets bounced off of him?" Joe asked. "And why he could fire them back like a shotgun?"

"Right." Ben pulled up a diagram showing the bullet's hitting Recoil. Zooming in the diagram showed all of Recoil's muscles compressing under the bullets not allowing them to break the skin before snapping back into place with an equal amount of force to negate the bullets. "Basically blunt force does not work that well on him."

"Great…" Joe said so sarcastically.

"There has to be some way to be able to take him down." Caitlin wondered aloud. "No one is completely immune to blunt force."

"Precisely Dr. Snow, while things like bullets and punches might not work so well on him we can still get him with sharp objects like a needle." Ben gave Caitlin a smile which earned him a scowl from the rest of Team Flash and specifically Barry.

"So how do we catch him?" Barry cut in feeling protective of Caitlin. She may be a big girl, with super speed and minor electrokinesis, capable of looking out for herself but after Zoom's deceit Barry just didn't want his girlfriend to suffer through any more heartache.

"We work on your acceleration so you're fast enough to get up to high speeds quickly." Ben turned back to his father with a smile. "And I know just the place to do it. Only thing is it's a little out of my radius." Ben directed everyone's attention to his anklet.

* * *

 **Somewhere in Central City**

On the other side of Central City in an abandoned warehouse Recoil was jumping around trying to increase his acceleration. Sure, he'd been able to outpace both of the Flashes but then that third one had to show up and ruin everything. Next time he was going to move fast enough to win their speed in a race. With the speed of three Flashes he'd surely be able to out race the white speedster.

There was a flash of white lightning and recoil felt himself being grabbed by his neck before being violently thrown against the ground. " _ **You won't be getting back to your original acceleration that way Recoil**_." Recoil looked up to see the one who brought him to this time period standing before him.

"You brought me 'ere to kill the Flash! Ya failed to mention there'd be another one!" The mysterious speedster moved inches from Recoil's face in a flash of white light.

" _ **Other one? What are you talking about**_?"

"Well, ya left out the girl! And the other guy! I could have easily killed one flash let alone three so how 'bout ya give me my-Argh!" The Speedster shoved his vibrating right hand through Recoil's chest, but instead of killing the meta-human he was still alive in extreme agony.

" _ **All I have to do is stop moving my hand for less than one millisecond and it will rupture your heart killing you instantly.**_ " He was not joking. He fully intended to kill Recoil. " _ **I told you to fight the Flash. I never said anything about killing him."**_

"Ya should 'ave been more specific…" Recoil groaned. "I wouldn't have beaten 'im that close to de- AAAAAAAAAGH!" He screamed in pain as white lightning discharged off of the other speedster's body shocking recoil both on the inside and out.

" _ **I warned you that I have a low tolerance for Failure. Now you'll see what happens to those who fail me."**_ The White speedster withdrew his hand giving Recoil a brief second to catch his breath before he began to run circles around him.

Recoil could see what was happening and in that moment, he crouched intent on using his propulsion to jettison himself away from the psycho speedster. But before he could jump the white speedster flew past him several times passing a vibrating hand through his knees and ankles severing his tendons and nerves.

He continued to run circles forming a cyclone of pure white lightning giving it a massive charge. Yellow lightning crackled all over Recoil as it came to the surface slowly being yanked out and merging with the white lightning. It only lasted for an instant of real time but for recoil it was hours of agony as the little Speed Force that was still within him was torn from his body.

The white speedster came back around one more time collecting all of Recoil's Speed Force on his right arm and in one fluid motion he cast it into the air firing a golden-white lightning bolt into the sky.

* * *

 **Central City Park**

Axel Areight was out for his evening jog. He had a long day, just coming off a twenty-four-hour shift at the hospital, and these evening escapades were his only time for solace especially with his job on the line. He overheard, from the Dean of Medicine, that he was too much of a liability for the hospital and it would be much costlier to keep him instead of just firing him outright. So here he was, running and thinking about his future. What was he going to do with his life if he really was fired? Unfortunately, this would be his last few moments of peace, ever.

Thunder rumbled throughout the sky causing Axel to stop running and look up wondering where the thunder clouds were. His eyes caught the cause of the thunder far too late as a bolt of golden-white lightning came crashing down on him. Electricity surged through his body as he was flung off the path and into the pond to his left. The lightning surged from there and fried all the aquatic life and giving Axel another shock.

As he slowly began to sink beneath the watery surface the last thing Axel remembered seeing was a man clad in white standing before her before he drifted off into oblivion.

* * *

This is the end of the chapter

Please tell me what you liked, didn't like, look forward to/think will happen, or your general thoughts and comments, this will help me make the story better; I'm a big boy so I can take criticism. And if you Review you get a Shout Out and questions answered either privately or in the next chapter.

 **SEVEN REVIEWS, FAVORITES OR FOLLOWS AND I'LL UPDATE IN A WEEK. EVERY TWO OVER THAT AND I'LL DO ONE DAY SOONER.**

 **(i.e. 9 R/F/F = 6-day update)**

Have a Fantastic day


	4. XLR8

**Disclaimer:** The following is a nonprofit Fan based story; The FLASH and all related characters are owned by DC comics, the CW and anyone I may have missed.

Special thanks to everyone who Favorited, Followed and Reviewed.

Reviews: **Guest (1), AReiss215, changingdestiny40, Guest (2), josephguy217,** and **ShanouNash**

 **Guest (1):** Glad you like it.

 **Guest (2):** Well, updates are completely determined by Reviews, Favorites and Follows. Otherwise they are weekly.

 **ShanouNash:** We will be slowly seeing everything come to fruition. Especially how Barry and Caitlin react and interact with their son.

Favorites: **Leanish203** and **ButterFly101**

Followers: **ButterFly101, changingdestiny40, Killjoker** and **Ranger McAleer**

Now Onto what you all want to see, the main chapter itself.

* * *

 _The Flash: Survival of the Fastest_

Chapter 3: XLR8

* * *

 **Central City Park**

 **6:07 PM**

"Sorry, Sorry!" Barry called out as he brushed past another person on his way to the crime scene. He had gotten the call from Joe not too long ago so he made his way over to the Park as Fast as he could, this meant he and Caitlin would have to put off their supposed training session with Ben until tomorrow.

"Allen, so good of you to join us." Captain Singh said as Barry sucked under the crime scene tape.

"I am so sorry I'm late Captain I was uh… with my…" Singh silenced Barry by raising his hand.

"I don't want to hear about your love life Allen." The Captain just rubbed his forehead. "Just… do your job."

"Right…" Barry made his way over to Julian who was analyzing some scorch marks on the paved path and grass. "What have we got Julian?"

Julian turned to Barry. "We only have one witness to what happened. Looks like the Flash kidnapped someone."

"I… uh… what makes you say that?" Barry asked very confused. "I mean… why would the Flash kidnap someone?"

"The witness saw what looked like two bolts of lightning." Julian explained. "Both yellow, like the Flash. When she got here the victim was gone and all that we have to work with is these scorch marks and a pond full of dead fish."

Barry analyzed the scorch marks. They were parallel and each one was about 4 5/16th inches wide, which was the same width as his Flash boots, so given all the knew, which wasn't much, it was possible the perpetrator was someone like him.

"Bag what we can Allen." Julian said as he took his gloves off. "We'll be needing every blade of grass and dead fish to solve this one." Barry rolled his eyes at an angle Julian could not see as his phone started to ring.

The Flash looked at the caller ID and saw that it was Caitlin. Why was she calling him? He told her he'd meet her at their apartment when he got off from this late-night call. "Hey Cait."

 _"Hey Barry, so I was wondering if in all the excitement and confusion someone forgot that tonight is?"_ Caitlin asked and Barry immediately slapped his forehead. Tonight, was date night, and well, Barry was planning to surprise Caitlin with tickets to her favorite play, _Wicked,_ which was playing tonight at 6:00. That was now a bust. Maybe he could get the refunded for later tickets.

"I am so sorry Caitlin… I think we might have to reschedule dinner… I had this surprise planned out and well… a monkey wrench was thrown in the plan…"

He could hear Caitlin laughing on the other end. " _It's alright Barry. We'll just do it some other time. It's one of the things I have to get used to because my boyfriend is a CSI."_

Barry couldn't help but smile, he had the best girlfriend in the world. She was so sweet, caring and understanding. "Yeah… you know what? Tomorrow night we'll make it up. Just the two of us. I promise."

" _Looking forward to it Bar. I'll see you when you get home. Love you."_

"Love you more." Barry smiled just before she hung up.

* * *

 **S.T.A.R. Labs**

 **6:40 PM**

Ben sat on the bed Team Flash had provided him. Until further notice he was restricted to S.T.A.R. Labs so he would have to make do with his accommodations. He held up his right arm and clenched his fist, a moment later his entire arm was covered in blue constructs resembling a gauntlet of sorts just made of hard light. Ben's left hand flew across a piece that resembled a keyboard and. An image was projected off the light gauntlet and Ben just looked at it completely engrossed.

"I don't care if no one believes me. I made a promise to you… I'll do anything and everything it takes to save you… you and mom… We'll get to be a family… again…" Ben was lost in thought when he heard the steady sound of footsteps coming down the hall. Immediately he turned off the device eliminating all evidence just as Caitlin walked in.

"Hi Mo- I mean Caitlin… what are you still doing here?" Ben asked his mother. "I thought you and Barry had a date tonight."

"We did but we had to reschedule after Barry got called into the precinct. So, here I am, just checking in." Caitlin said. "I wanted to make sure you're first night isn't too Spartan."

Ben shot several quick glances around the room. "It's fine. A little lonely but it could be worse. I understand your hesitance in allowing me to stay with you and Dad, or even just straight up accepting me into your lives. I thought that… my coming to this time… I just thought things would have been different… you know?" Ben began to chuckle to himself. "I guess in a way they are… I mean you've got super speed like dad, which is cool don't get me wrong… it's just not what I was expecting…"

"What were you expecting, if you don't mind my asking." Caitlin sat down on the bed next to Ben.

"I don't know… pretty much everything here except you being… you know… normal." Mother and son just sat there in silence just enjoying each other's company, and yet not really knowing what else they could say to each other. Twelve hours ago, Ben was an orphan and Caitlin was not a mother so the situation was a little awkward for the both of them.

"Caitlin… if… if you want I can tell you everything that happens to you… and Barry…" Ben spoke suddenly. He did not want to keep anything from his parents, especially their fates. He wanted them to still be around especially Caitlin, the one that was taken from him.

Caitlin thought for a moment, super speed had its perks when she needed time to think. "No… I don't want to know…" Ben understood where she was coming from. "Well, I'm heading out now. You sure you don't need anything?"

"I'm fine Caitlin."

"Ok… I'll… I'll see you tomorrow Ben." Ben gave her a smile before watching his mother run off in a flurry of blue lightning.

That was something he was never going to get used to.

* * *

 **Undisclosed Place and Time**

"Where am I…" Axel asked. He felt weightless and like he was being pulled everywhere, yet he wasn't moving.

" _ **You are in my domain Mr. Areight**_." In front of Axel was a man clad entirely in a white suit that left no flesh visible adorned with golden lightning bolts. His boots and forearms were gold and looked like they were made from the metal of the same name.

"Who… who are you?"

" _ **My name is not your concern. But for simplicity's sake, you may call me Godspeed**_." Godspeed said to the frightened man.

"Wha… what do you want from me?" In a flash of white and gold lightning Godspeed was inches from Axel's face clutching his chin and staring into his terrified eyes.

" _ **You're going to fight the Flashes and bring me their Speed**_."

At this point Axel, could barely contain how ridiculous that sounded. "You have got to be joking. I'm just a nurse at Central City Memorial Hospital. I'm not one of those Meta-Human freaks."

" _ **You're one of**_ _ **those**_ _ **freaks now**_." Godspeed growled menacingly. " _ **Now…if you do exactly as I say I will remove the speed I granted you**_."

Axel's eyes widened in shock. There was no way he could be one of those Meta-Human freaks. He willed his body to move. He had to escape from this evil Flash. He felt an energy surge through his body and in a flash of yellow lightning he was on the other side of the strange place but the white speedster was right next to him before he even realized he moved. "What… what did you do to me…?" Axel was frightened of what he was becoming.

" _ **I unlocked your potential. Where I am from you are a powerful speedster known as XLR8. I simply jumpstarted your path with your successor/predecessor's powers."**_ Sensing his fear Godspeed crouched to his level. _**"Here we have all the time in the multiverse to make**_ _ **you mine, XLR8."**_

* * *

 **Abandoned Ferris Air Field**

 **7:00 AM October 3, 2017**

Barry, Cisco Caitlin and Ben were standing outside a STAR Labs Mobile Lab at the old Ferris Air Landing Strip.

"How exactly do you plan to make Barry faster?"

"Well, I set up another white line 1125.33 feet away from Barry. It has a laser finish line connected to this switch." Ben showed Cisco the switch. "I push the switch giving them the signal to start then we look at the result times. The goal is to have Barry and Caitlin be able to run 1125.33 feet in one second or less."

"I thought you said Ricochet could go from zero to Mach 10 in that time." Cisco chimed in not even looking up from his computer.

"Ok, for starters his Name is Recoil, not Ricochet."

"Our Timeline, My nicknames. If we visit your timeline, I'll let you name them." Caitlin rolled her eyes in as her arms came to a rest at her hips.

Ben's folded across his chest. "Fine, but I'm still calling him Recoil. Any who Recoil used to be able to go from Zero to Mach 10 in one second but from what I gathered from his fight with Barry He was only able to go up to Mach 1 on that initial bounce."

"Why the decrease in his speed?" Cisco asked

"Not so much a decrease in his speed as a decrease in his acceleration. I don't know how but he's definitely slower than he was in our time." Ben looked towards his parents concerned. "I fear that Godspeed is somehow involved because Recoil was just a thug, even after he got his powers.

"Guys, I'm ready!" Barry called.

"Alright get ready to run!" Ben prepped the device and Caitlin quickly made her way over to Barry.

"I don't think we should try and accomplish this on our first run. We should Concentrate on making it there as fast as you can." Caitlin was worried about Barry. If he were to attempt something like this recklessly he ran the risk of tearing the muscles, tendons and ligaments in his legs which take him a while to heal.

"Caitlin, we have to at least try." Caitlin nodded slightly. She knew. That was who he was.

Barry and Caitlin got into a starting position on a while like while Cisco and Ben stood a few feet back.

"Ready… GO!" Ben yelled as he pushed the button and the two speedsters took off as fast as they could, leaving yellow and blue lightning entangled in their wake.

* * *

 **Central City Picture News**

While Team Flash was busy working with Ben to amplify Barry's acceleration rate Iris made her way to her job at Central City Picture News. In the event that Recoil or Ricochet showed up while Barry was training someone had to keep an eye open and an ear to the ground so that they wouldn't be caught off guard when he does whatever he wants to do.

"Iris, I've got something for you." Iris looked over to Scott as he approached her with a folder of papers and two people following closely behind him. The young man's arms carried several files and slung over one shoulder was a large black bag while the other was decorated with a camera. The girl to his left carried considerably less, just what looked like a notepad and her cell phone.

"Hi Scott, what's up." Iris got a good look at the young man. She could not deny he was very good looking but he was nowhere near Eddie or Barry. In a way, he sorts of reminded her of Wally. Both in looks and mannerism. They girl was pretty and actually made Iris feel like she was looking in a fun house mirror.

"We're getting hits about someone being struck by lightning in the park and vanishing without a trace." Iris perked up. Lightning strike? Vanishing without a trace? Sounded like Someone was hit by lightning and developed super speed. Like Barry had. But how? It's not like the Particle Accelerator was turned on yesterday. "I've got a feeling that the Flash is somehow involved. I want you on this. Oh, before I forget, Iris West meet Derick and Daphne North. They are Journalism Students from Central City University working with us for an internship, and as of right now they're your new probies."

"Nice to meet you Ms. West." Derick said as he shook Iris' hand.

"Please call me Iris."

"Well, you can call me D-Man if you want." Daphne gave Derick a nudge to make him stop flirting with Iris.

"Don't be stupid Derick. Can't you see she's already taken?" She pointed out Iris's ring.

"Oh…"

"Well, I'll let you two get acquainted with each other on your own time. Iris I want you on the latest Flash story, the one where he had his ass beat by that other guy, we'll call him Hopper since he hops around like a frog."

"Uh actually I have a source that says the guy's name is Recoil." Iris said thinking about what Ben had said to the Team.

"Really? Well I trust your judgment Iris." Scott gave her a smile before he left Iris with Derick and Daphne to get to work.

"So, you're Mr. Evan's go to girl for all things Flash? That's cool."

"You a fan of the Flash?"

"Yeah, we are actually both huge fans. I just think it's so cool how he runs around saving people giving us hope. He's the reason I'm also dabbling in photography on the side of my journalism classes. And believe me taking a picture of someone moving super-fast is a lot harder than you'd think." Derick rambled

Iris smiled as she thought back to her first picture of Barry as the Flash, it wasn't that difficult, granted she got it at precisely the right moment when he was still standing still. "Well, let's go Probie. We've got a story to write."

"OK, wait, where are we going?" Daphne asked as Iris led the way and Derick fumbled behind her nearly dropping his files and camera.

* * *

 **Central City Waterfront**

The Central City Police Force had gotten an anonymous tip about a body showing up on the shore so of course they made their way there to investigate. What they found was not pretty. It was a shriveled-up corpse that more closely resembled stone than flesh. Given that it lacked the decaying smell.

"Jesus…" Singh said softly. He had seen some messed-up things in his time on the police force but this was certainly up there. "What have we got Joe?"

"Tip came in almost an hour ago. Julian's analyzing the body to determine if this was done by a Meta-Human."

"Not determining Detective West, confirming." Julian responded earning Joe and Singh's curiosity. "This body has been fossilized. Clearly this is a modern-day _Homo Sapiens_ , it is highly unlikely that he was around during the Cretaceous Period. Therefore, my hypothesis is that we are dealing with a Meta-Human who can fossilize objects."

"What's that there in his left eye socket?" The Captain asked catching something glint in the sunlight.

Julian, wearing a pair of gloves reached in and pulled out a spherical object. "It appears to be a prosthetic eye. I'll have to run some tests back at the lab." He looked up to survey the rest on the force noticing someone who should be there wasn't. "Ugh… where is Allen?"

"He had to uh… run an errand for me." Joe said covering for his son as he usually did.

* * *

 **Abandoned Ferris Air Field**

"How was that?" Barry asked as he and Caitlin returned to where Cisco and Ben had set up the Mobile Lab.

"Well, you ran just over three football fields in 8.74 seconds at a final velocity of Mach 1." Cisco looked up from the result. "So your acceleration was, 128.76 Feet/Second. Not too bad for a first try."

"Really? That's it?" Caitlin shared a look with all three boys. "Barry and I can easily hit Speeds over Mach 25 and yet we can't reach Mach 1 in a second?"

Ben chuckled. "Don't beat yourselves up too much. It's harder to go faster over shorter distances and periods of time. You're already doing better than me. It took me almost thirty seconds to hit Mach 1 on my first try."

"We'll do it again." Barry said. Running 343 meters in 8.74 seconds was far below what he expected it used to take him 22.6 seconds to throw a supersonic punch. And both he and Caitlin could easily go over Mach 20 given plenty of time.

"I agree with Barry, we do it again." Ben agreed. "As of right now in the time it takes for Barry to reach Mach 1 Recoil can hit Mach 8 or even 9."

Barry nodded before getting back into his starting position.

"You sure you don't want me to show you how to do it?" Ben asked gesturing to his anklet. "All you've got to do is-"

"Nope." Barry cut him off. "Cait, come on."

The two speedsters got back into their starting positions and waited for the signal they both inhaled and let the energy build within them, they felt the lightning surge through their bodies. "GO!" Cisco cried out.

Ben and Cisco watched as Barry and Caitlin ran forward much faster than they did before leaving lightning of their respective colors. The force was so immense it actually blew Cisco and Ben back a little in a way that was reminiscent of Barry's first test run with his powers. As the two Flashes ran a larger stream of yellow lightning formed between them. There was something, more like someone, in the lightning running or more like gliding alongside them.

Cisco looked down at the results and could not contain his joy. "WHOA!" Eagerly he showed Ben and the son of Barry and Caitlin broke out in a smile.

"0.23 Seconds! That's 1491m/s which means their acceleration is-"

"6483.91m/s2" Cisco interrupted before giving him a smirk. "That's 38 times faster than last time!"

Ben's smile soon faded. "Something's not right. As happy as I am that my parents are uber fast but… that's too much of an increase for their second try."

There was a crackle of yellow lightning and before Ben and Cisco stood a new figure. The figure wore a full body yellow suit with black gloves and boots. Yellow disks rested on their wrists and ankles resembling shields and wheels. A yellow helmet with a black visor decorated their head but the most shocking thing was that he held Barry in his right hand and Caitlin in his left.

"Who the hell are you?" Cisco yelled out in shock.

" _ **My name is XLR8.**_ " The man in yellow said. " _ **Godspeed sent me here to kill the Flash. Lucky for me there are two of them**_. _**All the more for me to kill.**_ " He tossed Barry and Caitlin to the ground leaving them to gasp for breath. Yellow lightning charged over his arms and into the disks on his forearms. They began to spin very quickly with the edge glowing before he threw them like a pair of discus.

Ben grabbed Cisco and pulled him to the ground as the blades sailed over their heads and cleanly sliced into the van behind them. That's when they noticed the lightning tethering the disks to XLR8's wrists. With a yank, they flew back to his gauntlets and locked in place.

"Alright Ben, who is this guy?" Cisco demanded as they peered over the desk and quickly ducked when the disks were thrown again.

"XLR8… but he's dead when I'm from. It's impossible for him to be here." Ben peered to see his parents had gotten back to their feet behind XLR8. Soon there was a tornado of yellow and blue lightning where the three speedsters stood.

"Cisco you need to take this anklet off!" Ben demanded.

"I can't do that man. Barry's rules."

"Cisco! XLR8 was… is faster than Ricochet ever was! He can reach top speed in the time it takes for Barry to blink! He'll kill my mom and dad!" Ben yelled.

* * *

 **Central City Precinct**

"Detective West!" Joe turned to see Julian coming down the stairs from the lab with a sheet of paper in his hand. "I just got the ID from the body."

"This is…"

"Bellamy Samuels." Julian looked proud of himself, but at the same time he appeared upset. "There's just one small matter that does not add up."

"And what is that?"

"Samuels is only 17 years old and currently in Augustine's Juvenile Detention Center."

"What?"

* * *

 **Abandoned Ferris Airfield**

Caitlin dropped to her knees and slid as XLR8 brought his leg and disk blade inches over her head. This man was fast. She and Barry could not stop for any moment if they wanted to come out alive. Blue lightning charged up in her right hand. Unlike Barry Caitlin had also developed electrokinesis in addition to her Speed. Barry had been jealous initially and Caitlin offered to teach him how to do it but they discovered Barry could not manipulate his lightning like Caitlin could. Either way as she slid past XLRB Caitlin extended her hand and fired a lightning bolt at their attacker's head.

XLR8 glided out of the way moving to the outside of their electrical cyclone He began to glide along the ground as if it were ice with his disks building up his electrical charge as he did. As if he were Captain America he began to throw the disks on his wrists like boomerangs or Frisbees slicing through the air at deadly speeds tugging them back as soon as they passed or nicked their targets.

" _ **You can't beat me Flashes! I was personally trained by Godspeed for a decade with my powers**_!"

"Barry, he's too fast!" Caitlin cried out against the winds roaring around them. "What do we do?" That's when Caitlin felt it. The tug. She was sure Barry was feeling it as well like the Speed Force in their systems was being pulled out.

"BARRY! CAITLIN!" The two speedsters heard Ben crying out to them through the storm of lightning and wind. "YOU NEED TO SYNC UP! RUN IN UNISON AGAINST XLR8! IT'S THE ONLY WAY!"

Sharing a look with Barry, Caitlin began to run next to her boyfriend keeping pace with Barry. Running in unison was strange it was like they were getting faster and faster with each step. It was working, they gained on XLR8.

With the three speedsters raced Ben turned to Cisco. "Cisco shoot one of your vibrations at the ground where XLR8 is running! It'll throw him off balance and give Barry and Caitlin the opportunity to finish this!"

Cisco complied and fired off a vibrational wave at the bottom edge of XLR8's golden cyclone. But XLR8 saw this coming. He leaped gracefully over the blast allowing it to hit the ground at Barry and Caitlin's feet instead. Knocking them off balance and out of sync. While he was midair the yellow clad speedster threw his disks at Cisco and Ben, forcing them to take cover while he returned his attention to the two Flashes.

"Caitlin!" Barry helped her back to her feet. "Are you alright?"

"I… I'm fine Barry…" The concussive blast hadn't hurt either of them much, just thrown them out of sync.

Still holding Caitlin's hand tightly, the two Flashes began to run against XLR8 once again. They had to out run him.

" _ **Your Speed is mine**_!" XLR8 cried out as he felt the speed of both Flashes syncing with his own and being drawn to him. A smirk drew across his face as he had been preparing for this moment for a decade. Godspeed had plucked saved him from death and trained him to be a deadly fighting machine. There was no way he could possibly fail the god of speed.

As XLR8 gloated, Barry and Caitlin noticed something. The lightning next to XLR8 became laced with huge amounts of crimson and black lightning. And then they saw it. A face formed in the lightning next to their assailant.

It was all so fast Caitlin barely could register it. An arm coated in black armor grabbed XLR8 by the neck and in the next instant the cyclone of lightning was gone. Holding XLR8 off the ground was a monster clad in a suit that resembled black armor plating with blood red energy and lightning illuminating the gaps and every muscle. In the center of its chest was a scarlet circle adorned with a black lightning bolt running in the opposite direction of Barry's. His head was nightmare fuel as Cisco would say. It resembled a helmet but the face looked like a skull with glowing red eyes and twin lightning bolts resembling horns flanking his head. Massive amounts of energy spewing form its eyes and mouth making the helm appear as if it were on fire and giving his terrifying appearance a demonic tone.

" _ **Who… who the Fu**_ -" XLR8 never finished as the black speedster shoved his free arm into his chest making him scream out in pain.

Caitlin couldn't describe the feelings inside her as she watched the scene unfold. Fright, horror, a small speck of gratitude. She was by Barry's side and silently watched as the black speedster slowly withdrew his hand from XLR8's chest.

As he drew his hand free from XLR8's body all the lightning from him arced and melded with the black speedster's sea of lightning. With an unholy scream that actually started to break the ground he tore his arm out of XLR8's chest. In his hand was what could only be described as an effigy of XLR8 but made entirely out of lightning. In the next instant, the lightning effigy flowed into the black speedster's mouth as if he were eating the raw Speed Force Energy and as he did XLR8 squirmed in pain clawing to get free and get his speed.

As soon as he finished devouring the lightning effigy he dropped XLR8 to the ground and turned towards Barry and Caitlin and in a flash of crimson and black energy the devilish speedster was past them and gunning for Ben.

Barry and Caitlin could see the fear spreading across their future son's face as the black speedster rapidly approached him. Like a million still frames flashing before his eyes Ben saw the black speedster approaching him. His right hand poised to wrap its talons around Ben's face as if to tear off a mask.

There was a flash of yellow lightning and Ben found himself standing some ways away from the black speedster with Barry's arm wrapped over his shoulders. Next to them Caitlin had pulled the same maneuver with Cisco.

The black speedster turned to the quartet and seemed to sneer before silently screaming at them before being torn apart into a cluster of red and black energy dissipating into nothing.

"Ok… what the hell was that?" Cisco asked still shaking from fear.

Barry and Caitlin turned to Ben hoping for an explanation, their son's shocked and horrified expression spoke volumes more than his words. "That… that was Speed Demon…"

* * *

This is the end of the chapter

Please tell me what you liked, didn't like, look forward to/think will happen, or your general thoughts and comments, this will help me make the story better; I'm a big boy so I can take criticism. And if you Review you get a Shout Out and questions answered either privately or in the next chapter.

 **SEVEN REVIEWS, FAVORITES OR FOLLOWS AND I'LL UPDATE IN A WEEK. EVERY TWO OVER THAT AND I'LL DO ONE DAY SOONER.**

 **(i.e. 9 R/F/F = 6-day update)**

Have a Fantastic day


	5. That Syncing Feeling

**Disclaimer:** The following is a nonprofit Fan based story; The FLASH and all related characters are owned by DC comics, the CW and anyone I may have missed.

Special thanks to everyone who Favorited, Followed and Reviewed.

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 **Guest (1):** I'm glad you think this is getting better and better I plan to make this even crazier and awesomer of that is even a word.

 **Guest (2):** Caitlin being a speedster is definitely something I take pride in coming up with and capitalizing on. She'll be sticking around with those powers of hers.

 **Guest (3):** I'm updating right now.

I love all you guys who reviewed. It makes the world continue spinning.

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Always welcome favorites. Its like saying 'I love this' without saying it directly.

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and **Immaterium**

Of course, Followers you guys are so freaking patient. I have nothing else to say but thank you.

First of all, I want to apologize to all of you guys who were waiting for this chapter but several things came up, thanksgiving, the crossover, wonky internet connection and then I had an exam. So I don't know or remember who I've already replied to so if I haven't please let me know and I'll get back to you however I can.

Second How about those last couple of Episodes of The Flash? I know I enjoyed them and now I have seven weeks nearly distraction free to continue writing. I must say this story is much faster paced and convoluted than I initially planned. Hopefully as confusing as things get they will still make a lot of sense.

Heads up there is a bit of torture and mutilation in this chapter you have been warned.

* * *

 _The Flash: Survival of the Fastest_

Chapter 4: That Syncing Feeling

* * *

 **STAR Labs, Cortex**

 **10:30 AM**

Team Flash was gathered in the main cortex of STAR Labs. After XLR8's attack Barry had everyone gather together so that Ben could explain just what the hell was going on. The young speedster from the future had a lot of explaining to do.

"Are you all OK?" Joe asked. Hearing how Barry, Caitlin and Cisco were attacked scared him. It had only been a day but things were getting very out of hand.

"We're fine Joe." Barry reassured his foster father. He and Caitlin hadn't been hurt too badly. It was more like XLR8 was trying to steal their speed rather than kill them. "A little shaken up but we're good."

"We were attacked by a speedster named XLR8." Ben said. "Which shouldn't have happened."

"How come?" Joe asked donning his cop disposition.

"Where I am from XLR8 was already dead." Ben explained as he once again brought up the speedster's file onto their screens via the device Cisco would eventually create. "His real name was Axel Areight. He was a nurse at Central City Memorial Hospital before he was fired for selling prescription medication on the streets. He became a speedster during the Speed Force Storm."

"Speed Force Storm?" Caitlin asked

"It's exactly as it sounds. The Storm happened during Barry's final fight with Godspeed. You two were racing at such high speeds and putting out so much energy in an attempt to take the Speed Force from each other that you created a massive feedback burst. The resulting electrical explosion tore the Speed Force apart and scattered it throughout time and the Multiverse. I know this sounds crazy Barry, but you are not the first Speedster." The young speedster explained.

"What do you mean?" The Flash was quite interested to hear that there have been speedsters throughout history. He remembered hearing the legends about Savitar being the first but could there really have been others like him?

"Like I said the Speed Force exploded and caused simultaneous lightning strikes throughout basically everything. Dozens if not hundreds of millions or perhaps infinite amounts of people were struck turning them into speedsters throughout time and space."

"So… what happened to these other speedsters?" Wally asked quite curious about what happened to his apparent predecessors and possible legacies. "Does this have anything to do with Savitar? I mean he's supposedly the first Speedster in the entire Multiverse."

"Well, I've heard about Savitar it is quite possible the Storm is a part of his origin story. As were you Barry. The lightning that struck you, came from that Storm. I don't know where it begins and where it ends but every speedster they've all met Godspeed or Speed Demon at some point or another." Ben explained. "They've been traveling throughout time and the multiverse taking the Speed Force from speedsters. Godspeed cultivates new speedsters and grooms them into his pawns if they fail he takes back whatever he gave them while Speed Demon just tears the Speed Force out of you and as you saw with XLR8, it is not a pleasant experience. If losing your speed doesn't kill you Speed Demon will directly end your life."

"Right… so how do we stop them? I mean Speed Demon was only around for a few seconds and even then, he did not look real. He looked like a monster." Caitlin argued.

"Thankfully he's a monster that can only be around for a few seconds before the Speed Force snaps him back to his time like a bungie cord." Ben sighed. "Which is unfortunately where I come from. So yeah… Until we deal with him I'm kind of stuck here. The only problem is I have no clue how to defeat Speed Demon, all I know is that only I can beat Speed Demon."

"You don't have to do this alone Ben. You've got us. We can help you." Iris said

"You don't understand." Ben's voice was rising in volume. "Only I can stop him because I created him!"

"What?" Everyone had different reactions. Iris actually voiced her confusion while Barry and Caitlin looked at their son in stunned silence. Cisco Joe and Wally had to pick their jaws up off the ground while Eddie subconsciously reached for his gun ignoring the blue flame like energy swirling around his fingers as he did.

"You created him? What is that supposed to mean?" Barry near shouted.

"I found someone. He was young… and he had a wonky connection to the Speed Force just like me because he was born with it." Ben said sadly. "I tried taking him under my wing, make him use his powers the right way, but he fought me at every turn. By the time I saw what he had become it was too late. He had become Speed Demon and made it his mission to hunt me." Barry immediately felt bad for getting angry at Ben. Clearly Speed Demon had left a huge impact on his son. "I guess the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree when it comes to Allens trusting the wrong people."

"How so?" The Flash asked.

"All I know about Godspeed is that he was someone you taught. But in his mind, you failed at a number of things so he lashed out determined to take your mantel as the fastest man alive and as Central City's resident Speedster. Funny how two of the most powerful and dangerous speedsters ever are our failed students."

Caitlin was by Barry's side fairly quickly taking his hand into her own, in an attempt to sooth the conflicting emotions in her boyfriend.

"Wait so basically Godspeed and Speed Demon are the Darth Vaders to you Obi Wan Kenobis?" Cisco summed up with a Star Wars metaphor.

"Well… putting it very simply… yes."

"Good, just making sure we are still following clearly." Cisco was satisfied that his metaphor summed up what was so wrong with the future.

"So, if Godspeed and Speed Demon are pupils gone rogue wouldn't it be easiest to just… I don't know, not train any new speedster?" Caitlin asked

"Maybe, but that wouldn't stop Godspeed and Speed Demon. They already exist. I've said this before and I'll say it again. Multiverse Theory is a bitch." Ben explained before turning to his parents. "Now… It's clear to me that Godspeed isn't going to sit around and wait for you two to get faster if he was willing to send XLR8 after you two so soon.

"I know, normally we get what? A week between Meta-Humans?" Barry asked the rest of the team.

"Sounds about right." Joe shrugged. "Feels like every Tuesday there is a new Meta-Human."

* * *

 **Central City, Abandoned Warehouse**

 **Same Time**

" _ **RAGH!**_ " In a massive furry Godspeed threw a table with such force that it splintered upon hitting the concrete wall of the warehouse he was held up in. He had not counted on Speed Demon showing up when he did. Not only had he had lost XLR8, one of his best creations but he also lost the Speed Force Axel Areight had in his system. Gold lightning flashed all over the room as the white speedster decimated everything in his path.

"You can't win Godspeed…" He stopped his rampage and turned to the source of the voice. His prisoner.

Chained up with her movements completely restrained was a young woman with purple hair pulled into a matted ponytail, torn clothes, smudged make up along with several cuts and bruises that refused to heal, mainly because Godspeed would inflict new ones whenever she was healed.

Godspeed scowled beneath his mask before reappearing right in front of her wrapping his hand around her neck and began to squeeze. " _ **Don't be coy with me Abigale… never forget I can bring you to the brink and make it last for an eternity**_."

Abigale flinched her bravado gone at the threat. Well more like a promise than a threat, he had done it before, multiple times.

Thirty seconds later Godspeed walked away from the now bloody and unconscious Abigale. She made an excellent punching bag when he needed to relieve stress or any frustrations. He had to continue with his plan and to do that he needed the Flash's speed. He wasn't too concerned about the female Flash he was going to get her speed regardless. She was forever doomed to be his first victim nothing was ever going to change that.

Perhaps he should kick it up a notch. He might not like it but he might need to jump start the biggest and most powerful crime lord the United States has ever seen.

* * *

 **Central City Police Department**

 **12:26 PM**

Joe sat at his desk trying to sift through a whole mess of cases that seemed to be endlessly piling up. He really needed to get a new partner so that he would not be swamped with this much work. He may be a great cop but he wasn't the Flash.

"Joe!" He looked up to see Captain Singh making his way over to him while putting his coat on. "Round up everyone we have an emergency!"

Joe nodded and grabbed his jacket and kept in stride with the captain. "What's happening David?"

"Mayor Karon is missing!"

"The Mayor? What happened?"

"His secretary called. She heard some screams coming from the mayor's office and when she opened the door He was gone and the man he was meeting with was dead." He passed Joe a file that had photos from the first responders.

Joe looked at the pictures. He'd seen some messed-up things in his long career as a detective but this was certainly in the top ten. The body looked like it had been through a junkyard, lacerations, bruises, burns, bones and blood decorated the corpse that no longer resembled any kind of human to the point even Joe had to put in some effort to keep his lunch down. "Damn… any clue who our victim was?"

"It's going to be difficult to ID the body, which is why I want Allen on this one, now where is he Joe?"

"He's got some personal issues to work through right now. Some of his family just came into town and well, it hasn't been easy for him."

Singh pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. "Fine, I'll have Albert work the case. And tell Allen if he's not here tomorrow I'll have no choice but to fire him. His lack of respect for the passes I have given him is starting to annoy me."

* * *

 **STAR Labs, Speed Lab**

 **1:00 PM**

Cisco and Ben watched as Barry and Caitlin ran laps around the track. Flashes of yellow and blue lightning illuminated the small windows showing them where the two speedsters were a tiny fraction of a second prior.

"So… how fast are they going?" Cisco asked. Ben Had taken over monitoring their energy output, speed as well as their vitals, he at least knew what he was doing.

"Well, as long as they run in unison they can hit speeds close to Mach 100. That's about four times faster than their top speeds when they raced Zoom."

"Mach 100!? Damn…" Cisco whistled impressively. "I know Barry said Mach 50 wasn't a thing but-"

"Mach 50 is real." Ben said without looking up not even sounding the least bit impressed with what his parents could do. "I myself can run at least Mach 30,000, or the average speed of an actual bolt of lightning if you want to get technical. Mach 100 isn't going to get them much of anywhere. Heck, if I didn't have this cuff on they'd be standing still to me. Godspeed has a few speedsters that can reach lightspeed in his thrall yet he's still the fastest and Speed Demon is at least as fast as me and he gets faster with each speedster he kills."

"So, I take it there's not much optimism in the Future." Cisco shrugged. "Sounds depressing."

"Yeah… the future is rather depressing. Not much for us heroes to do after The Fall. Aside from putting down the occasional Meta-Human that pops up once in a while."

"The Fall?" Cisco asked. "What's The Fall?"

Ben was about to respond when Wally came rushing into the Lab. "Yo! What's up?" He made his way to Cisco and gave him a high five before turning to Ben.

"Uh… nothing much really. Just monitoring Barry and Caitlin's progress. They just passed Mach 113." Ben replied. "You want to help them out Wally?"

"Absolutely." Wally loved using his powers any chance he got and running alongside Barry, Caitlin, Jesse or Jay was absolutely phenomenal.

"Then suit up and join them Kid Flash." Wally frowned at his code name. As much as he loved being a speedster he hated being called Kid Flash. He was in no way a kid. But having three people called the Flash would make things a hell of a lot more confusing. Wally raced off, grabbed his suit and joined Barry and Caitlin on the race track.

No sooner had he joined them Wally began to sync up and their max speed began to increase rising past Mach 120, Mach 130 and even Mach 150 reaching all the way to Mach 170 resulting in Ben smiling at the progress.

When speedsters ran in unison they could increase their speed by keeping at this pace for a while Mach 170 could become each of their new top speed.

"Alright guys! Keep it up!" Ben called into the microphone so that the three other speedsters could hear him properly. If there was one downside to super speed it was that sometimes you couldn't hear things fast enough and you would end up missing information. Thankfully speakers channeled directly into their ears generally solved this issue for any speedster.

"Remember this feeling! Remember this speed! Let the Speed Force flow through you leaving this feeling on every cell in your body!"

"Dude you sound like Yoda." Cisco chuckled.

"Eh, I always thought of myself as Ben Solo."

"Ben Solo? Who the hell is Ben Solo?"

"Oh shit!" Ben slapped a hand over his mouth. "That was a spoiler! Damn it I really need to watch what I say sometimes…" He looked at Cisco's dead serious look before he broke out into a smirk then a full belly laugh. "You're joking, right? You have _Star Wars: The Force Awakens_ here and you are just teasing me, right?"

"Oh man you should have seen your face." Cisco was having a little too much fun torturing Ben with pop culture. "But seriously why Ben Solo? He's Kylo Ren. You know, the bad guy."

"Dunno. I think it's because I don't really care that he's good or evil he's pretty badass. Come on you had to admit that was beastly when he stopped that blaster bolt."

"Oh, hell yeah! And when Ray Finn and BB-8 flew the _Millennium Falcon_ through the ruined Star Destroyer"

"Awesome!" Ben was nerding out just as much as Cisco was. They kept firing back their favorite comic books and movie moments and only stopped when Barry Caitlin and Wally slid to halts.

"How fast was that?" Wally asked first.

Realizing he hadn't been following their speeds Ben went back to the terminal to get a reading. "Uh... top speed, for all three of you, was Mach 186."

"Mach 186!?" Barry asked not believing it. "How'd we do that?"

"When two speedsters run in sync one of two things can happen. If you run in perfect sync like the three of you were, your speed compiles and multiplies by the number of speedsters running. Two is double, three is triple and so on. This does have a risk however. If you aren't in perfect sync you run the risk of the Speed Force being torn from you and being dragged into the faster Speedster. Like what XLR8 tried to do to you. Unfortunately, Mach 186 is nowhere near fast enough for you to beat Godspeed or Speed Demon let alone some of the other Speedsters."

"Why? How fast are they exactly?" Caitlin asked not knowing Ben had already told Cisco.

Ben raised his foot onto the table showing them the cuff. "Can you take this off for a second?" Barry was hesitant but nodded removing Ben's cuff. The young Allen got into a starting position before looking over his shoulder. "You all might want to step back… a lot." He let the lightning surge through him as golden electricity flickered in his eyes before turning blue-white.

Like a bolt of lightning himself Ben tore off through the track leaving a scorched trail with every step he took. For the onlookers, especially the three speedsters, it was instantaneous when Ben returned to standing right in front of them.

"What the Hell!?" Wally freaked offering a high-five for Ben which the young speedster happily obliged. "Dude that was insane!

"How fast was that!?" Caitlin questioned in utter disbelief.

"Cisco?" Ben asked for Cisco to show them his speed.

Cisco was completely shocked not knowing how to convey what he saw as the number. Shaking, Cisco showed them the tablet.

"Mach…30…000…" Barry breathed unable to truly believe it.

"That's… impossible…"

"Not for me." Ben smirked as he put the cuff back on. "And I can easily go faster."

* * *

 **Unknown Location**

 **2:23 PM**

Mayor Hank Karon slowly opened his eyes. He had not the faintest clue as to what happened nor where he was. It was much too dark for him to see much of anything on top of the fluid in his eyes. Any movement he made brought about waves of pain through his entire body.

" _ **Oh good, you're finally awake**_." The Mayor looked for the source of the voice and saw two men, their faces were covered by shadow but one of them was giving off a faint glow thanks to dozens of arcs of white-gold electricity. If his eyes could widen anymore they would have when he noticed who was between the two of them. The District Attorney, Mellissa Levine

"Mmmmah!" The Mayor couldn't even say her name thanks to the gag in his mouth. But he could see she was standing on a chair with what must have been a noose made of wire around her neck.

" _ **Oh, don't worry. We have one more guest joining us today**_." The first of the men taunted. " _ **In fact, he should be here any moment**_." As if on cue a third man came in dragging another body. This one was heavily wounded, beaten near death. " _ **Leave us**_." The first man commanded and the third man disappeared into the darkness.

"Mha moo oooh man!" The Mayor pleaded against his gag.

" _ **Did you understand any of that**_?" The Second man asked the first.

" _ **Nope**_." The first man began to rock the chair supporting Attorney Levine's body. " _ **What's that? I should kick out this chair**_?" Both Hank and Mellissa looked at him with terrified looks. The man flicked his wrist and the gag in Hank's mouth was torn away.

"What… what do you want…?" he quivered in fear.

The first man smirked with a smile that glistened in contrast to the dark. " _ **What do I want? I want you to know I own this City. Think of me as the new landlord, and I'm here to collect your rent. And until you pay people will start dying. In fact, I think I'll take your hand as insurance until the payment is made**_!" Mayor Karon's eyes widened in terror and a searing pain began to dig into his right wrist.

He screamed against the gag ac cold metal cut into his skin and muscle. It wasn't a knife cutting him nor was it a saw. Whatever it was it was cutting all the way around at once. And then in one painful move the Mayor could no longer feel his right hand as he passed out.

* * *

 **Barry and Caitlin's Home**

 **6:34 PM**

"Are you alright?" Caitlin's question snapped Barry out of his thoughts.

"Huh?" Barry looked up from his plate. "Oh, I'm fine Cait."

"Really?" Caitlin cocked an eye brow. "Because you've hardly touched your pasta." The Flash looked back down at his plate and noticed how his food was mostly untouched.

"Huh… I guess I'm just not that hungry." Caitlin reached across the table and took Barry's free hand in her own.

"What's wrong Barry?"

Barry sighed heavily. "I've been thinking. If Ben truly is our son from the Future I should have warned him about the dangers and consequences of Time Travel. Just knowing the future is always an issue because when you try and prevent something you just make it happen and I mean, I know he's essentially changing his past which is our present but-" He was silenced when Caitlin gently leaned across the table giving Barry her full undivided attention and distracted him with her beauty. God, it made him think to that horrible future he saw where Savitar killed Iris, thankfully that fate was avoided. "I uh… I…"

"Yes?" Caitlin asked.

"Look… I know we said he should stay at S.T.A.R. Labs and keep that cuff on but…"

"You think we should remove the cuff? Let him use his speed?" Caitlin asked.

"When Speed Demon ran after him I… I felt fear. Fear of losing Ben even though we just met him. That's why I saved him. I was afraid of what would happen if he were gone. Does that sound crazy? I think it sounds crazy."

Caitlin gave her boyfriend a warm smile. "I don't think it's crazy. I honestly felt the same way as well. I surely would have grabbed him if you hadn't."

Barry felt relieved hearing that Caitlin was feeling the same way about Ben's situation. "Then maybe we should call him up, maybe even have a nice family dinner. It'll give us the chance to get to know him. What do you think?"

"Let's go get him."

With smiles on their faces Barry and Caitlin took off in flashes of yellow and blue lightning respectively before returning home Ben in tow.

"What the what!?" Ben was slightly surprised by his change of scenery that it took him a moment to realize his parents chuckling behind him. "Uh… am I missing something? I thought I wasn't allowed to leave S.T.A.R. Labs.

"Change of Plans Ben." Barry said. "Caitlin and I would actually like to get to know you better."

"Really? It hasn't even been one day and you're OK with me… you know, here. What changed your mind Da- Barry?" To say ben was surprised by the about face in behavior was not an exaggeration.

Barry turned to Caitlin before returning his gaze to his future son. "I guess you could call it a parent's desire to know their son. We hardly know you and because of that we almost watched you get killed today."

"I never thought you guys would be accepting me this quickly. I gave myself a few weeks, maybe a month tops to earn your trust, but for now I'll take what I can get." Ben smiled at his parents while shifting his hands into his pockets. "So, what's for dinner Mo- Caitlin?"

"I hope you brought your appetite." Caitlin flashed into her kitchen then returned to the dining table with a large platter of pasta and meatballs. "I made quite a bit considering… you know, high metabolism and all."

The three speedsters shared smiles before sitting down at the table and digging into Caitlin's Pasta. All the while Ben told them stories.

"So, this one time, my friend Bobby and I, we snuck out and met up just outside of Star City to head off to Coast City to catch a late-night concert. That's where we met up with Haley, and god you guys were so mad when I came home at two in the morning Coast City Time. I thought I was home free until mom turned the lights on and I saw her sitting there furiously staring at me."

"That sounds like Caitlin all right." Barry chuckled. "She can be a little…"

"A little what Barry?" Caitlin asked a little too sweetly.

"Uh… nothing sweetie" Barry quickly took a long sip of his water and desperately avoided eye contact.

"That's what I thought you said." Caitlin turned back to Ben. "You mentioned you were homeschooled Ben. Did you ever end up going to college? You know because of your… condition?"

"Yeah, I was studying science, couldn't decide between being a Forensic Assistant Like Barry or a Bio-Chemist like you."

"You double majored?" Barry asked taking a sip of his coco. God his son was going to be so smart to double major.

"Yeah, I did. I graduated Egregia Cum Laude." In surprise Barry actually began to choke on his drink. Even he had trouble getting a single degree. Caitlin on the other hand was impressed, she did have to doctorates and a PhD.

"Where'd you go after college?"

"I ended up working at S.T.A.R. Labs with you guys. Also worked part time for the Precinct."

"Must have been nice working at the precinct." Barry chuckled.

"Did I say the Central City Precinct? I meant the Coast City Police Department."

"Coast City? Why out there? Couldn't you have gotten a position with the Central City Police?" Caitlin asked.

"Maybe, but I wanted to kind of be my own person. Hence when I moved to Coast City and took a different profession. I found that I was pretty good at solving crimes and being a cop. I find it fun. Hey I'd visit you guys at least once a week so don't feel like I just flew the coop." Ben was smiling and rambling which both Barry and Caitlin found to be cute, probably cuter than it actually was since he technically was a twelve-year-old in a twenty-five-year-old's body.

"Sounds like we had a wonderful life together Ben." Caitlin had long since put all the empty dishes into the dishwasher despite Barry and Ben Insisting they would do it.

"We did, for a time." Ben looked into the mug of hot chocolate Barry gave to him.

"Do you mind telling us what happened?"

"Technically I should not tell you because it can alter the future but… Godspeed happened… From what I gathered he stole your speed, which I have never seen you use until yesterday, oh, geeze, look at that. It's nearly midnight. Perhaps we should be getting to bed." Ben suddenly changed to topic drawing attention to how late it had become

Barry and Caitlin exchanged looks before smiling warmly. "Alright. You can sleep in the guest room."

"Yeah, that would be great." Ben smiled. "Better than the couch or back at the Lab."

Five minutes later Ben watched as the door was closed behind his parents he sighed and laid down on the bed wrapping himself up in the blankets Caitlin had provided him. He was lulled into a safe sense of security and allowed himself to drift into his dreams.

* * *

This is the end of the chapter

Please tell me what you liked, didn't like, look forward to/think will happen, or your general thoughts and comments, this will help me make the story better; I'm a big boy so I can take criticism. And if you Review you get a Shout Out and questions answered either privately or in the next chapter.

 **SEVEN REVIEWS, FAVORITES OR FOLLOWS AND I'LL UPDATE IN A WEEK. EVERY TWO OVER THAT AND I'LL DO ONE DAY SOONER.**

 **(i.e. 9 R/F/F = 6-day update)**

Have a Fantastic day


	6. The Puppet Master

**Disclaimer:** The following is a nonprofit Fan based story; The FLASH and all related characters are owned by DC comics, the CW and anyone I may have missed.

Special thanks to everyone who Favorited, Followed and Reviewed.

Reviews: **Guest, changingdestiny40, AReiss215,** and **Flash frost**

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Favorites: **Nerdman3000, Claudette14, Flash Frost,** and **Shadowhunterchronicleslover13**

Always welcome favorites. Its like saying 'I love this' without saying it directly.

Followers: **Flash frost, downpours, Nerdman3000** and **doctor3378**

Of course, Followers you guys are so freaking patient. I have nothing else to say but thank you.

First I want to wish you all Happy Holidays (I don't know who celebrates Christmas, Hanukkah or Kwanzaa) and a Happy New Year. Now I know you all were waiting for this but I was unfortunately delayed and the Holiday season did not help we get this out faster. Good news is Starting next week I should be able to crank out the story with minimal interruptions.

* * *

The Flash: Survival of the Fastest

Chapter 5: The Puppet Master

* * *

 **Warehouse**

 **3:54 AM**

Joe and two dozen SWAT officers stood guns locked and loaded outside of a warehouse. They had gotten the call thirty minutes ago, that this was the location of the abducted mayor, the District Attorney, The Assistant District Attorney as well as several other leaders of the local government.

"… _All squads are in position…"_ One of the officers said through his radio to Joe.

"…On three we breech and get this S.O.B. ready…?"

"… _Yes sir…"_

"On three… One… two…" The men with the rams cocked back the device. "THREE!" Joe shouted and all of them smashed in the doors simultaneously. Police made their way into each entrance unaware of the wires they tripped as they did until it was too late. The wires pulled pins out of dozens of grenades giving the cops seconds to react. Seconds they did not have.

"EVERY BODY MOOOO…" Joe began to scream as the world slowed down as Wally raced onto the scene.

Taking fractions of a millisecond to analyze the situation Wally sprang into action. Yellow lighting coated his suit as he ran in and pulled every cop, including his dad, out of the blast radius before running into the inferno unscathed.

Normally he would have Barry and/or Caitlin with him but Wally enjoyed it when he had a chance to prove himself as a hero.

He ran up the stairs into the main office and found a man completely clad in black holding another man's head in a gallon drum filled with what looked like water. Not too far from him was The District Attorney dangling from the ceiling via a noose, she was squirming so she was definitely alive and her neck was not broken. The Mayor himself was lashed to some steel crossbeams with a bleeding stump for a right hand.

"HEY!" Wally shouted getting the kidnapper's attention.

"Well this is certainly a surprise. I was expecting Central Cities Finest to be torched."

"Gonna take more than a little fire to scare me off." Wally said cockily. "So, you want to do this the easy way or the fun way? Either way you're going to Iron Heights."

If Wally could have seen his face he would have noticed the equally cocky grin. "Well… Bring it on… Kid Flash."

Wally made a move to sprint but his legs caught on something and he fell forward onto the ground. Kid Flash looked down to see his legs slowly being tied up in wires that completely restricted his movements.

"That was a little too easy!" The Kidnapper chuckled. "I tied your legs up when you weren't paying attention and now I've got you!" He swung his left hand with each finger outstretched. Wally could see a faint glint from long wires extending from his fingers he gripped the wires making them resemble a five-tailed whip.

Wally tried to hold his arms up to protect his face and chest but the kidnapper shot more wire from his right hand and restrained Kid Flash's arms to his sides. Wally shut his eyes as the five wires made contact slicing through the suit and into his skin.

The Kidnapper sadistically continued to strike Wally with his razor wire whip slicing him with each and every blow until he stopped.

"You're boring me Kid Flash." The wire wipe retreated into his hand as if it never existed. "Godspeed said so long as I don't kill the Flash or his girlfriend I can do whatever I want." Dozens of wires shot out from his palm twisting together forming a rope. He tossed it over a rafter and willed the end to tie into a noose which he placed around Wally's neck.

A gunshot rang out causing the kidnapper to stagger back to the window. Wally turned to see his dad standing in the door way with a smoking gun.

The kidnapper looked up and gave Joe and Wally a smirk before Joe fired another five shots each one burying itself into the man's chest and propelling him into the window with sufficient force to throw him out.

"You OK Wally?" Joe was immediately by his son's side. "Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine dad." Wally managed to vibrate his body to escape the bounds he was placed in. "Just my pride is wounded.

"Just in case I can call Caitlin and have her meet us back at S.T.A.R. Labs."

"No… I'm fine… no need to get her and Barry worked up because I was out here on my own… Besides… I need you to check on the hostages…" Joe nodded and went to check on the Mayor, District Attorney and what appeared to be the assistant District Attorney.

He checked their pulses and was relieved to see that they each had one, faint, but it was there. They each had been through the ringer so Joe grabbed his radio. "This is Detective West, I've got the mayor, the DA and the ADA. I need an ambulance at my locations yesterday!"

"Joe!" Joe looked up to see Wally looking out the window. "You might want to see this." The detective joined his son but could not see what he was looking at.

"Alright I give up. What am I supposed to be seeing?"

"Seriously? You don't notice anything missing?" Wally asked.

This time Joe looked closer and noticed exactly what Wally wanted him to see. "Where's the body?" Joe asked. The kidnapper's body was nowhere to be seen. There was no blood, no damage aside from the broken window, there was nothing indicating that a man had been shot out of the window.

"Exactly, where did out dead kidnapper disappear to?"

* * *

 **Caitlin and Barry's Home**

 **7:00 AM**

Barry slowly opened his eyes and could not resist smiling at the swath of auburn hair in his face. He couldn't explain it well but waking up next to Caitlin just felt right on so many levels like he was meant to do this. It was strange though, the odds seemed to be stacked against them and yet here they were, together, and with a future that promised them at least a son maybe more if Ben accomplished what he came back to do. What exactly was he here to do anyway?

Gently kissing Caitlin's forehead Barry rushed over to the bathroom and was ready for the day in about three seconds. Oddly enough by the time he got into the kitchenette. Ben and Caitlin were already awake and at the counter already eating breakfast.

"Jeeze Barry. You wake up first and we're still ready before you." Caitlin teased her boyfriend for his sloth-like speed in the morning. "Why is it that Ben and I got up after you and in the span of a few seconds we got completely ready while you diddled about in the bathroom?"

"I guess it's my super-tardiness." Barry embraced Caitlin from behind and kissed her cheek. "So, what's for breakfast?"

"Not much, just some French Toast." Caitlin said as she placed a few slices onto an open plate for Barry.

Luckily for Ben, Barry's phone went off. "Hey Joe. What? No, Ben's here nothing to worry about on this front. Wait, what? Alright I'll be over." The Flash hung up his phone and turned to Ben and Caitlin. "That was Joe. I need to go."

"What happened?" Caitlin asked.

"The Mayor, The DA and the ADA were all attacked." Barry said. "They were all-"

"Found strung up hanging from some rafters via nooses, mutilated or otherwise tortured?" Ben cut off Barry.

"Yeah… how'd you know?"

"I worked on this case back in my time. I saw something similar in Coast City. It's kind of a calling card of a crime boss known only as the Puppet Master. Sounds like he's getting a jump start on his empire… about ten years early."

Caitlin looked between her future son and her boyfriend. The two young men had so much in common it made her heart swell with joy because her boys were so dedicated to what they did.

"So… you want to help us out on this case?"

"I'm sure I can lend you a hand."

With a smile Barry made his way to Caitlin and kissed her on the lips. "We'll see you later Cait. Duty Calls."

"See you at S.T.A.R. Labs… Mom." Ben gave her a bone crushing hug which slightly surprised the Female Speedster. For a moment, Caitlin hesitated before returning the hug. It was strange, Ben's hug wasn't a 'See-you-later' hug it was more of a 'I-don't-know-when-I'll-see-you-again' hug.

"I'll see you both there. For now the day jobs beckon."

* * *

 **Central City Police Department**

 **7:20 AM**

"Is there anything that you can tell us about your attacker? Distinctive marks? Height? Voice?" Joe asked. They had gotten the call last night about the abductions and within an hour they had recovered Mayor Hank Karon, District Attorney Mellissa Levine and Assistant District Attorney David Caesar. The Police had decided it would be for the best if The Mayor, the District Attorney and the Assistant District Attorney stayed in the Station over night for their own protection. Luckily for them it was a good call.

"I'm sorry Detective…" Miss Levine quietly said not bothering to look up from her mug. "It… it all happened so quickly… One moment I was home tucking my daughter in for bed and then I suddenly couldn't control my body as I…"

Joe could see that the questions were troubling Miss Levine so he decided it might be best if he leave her be. "Thank you for your time Ms. Levine. If there's anything else you can tell us please do not hesitate to contact me." Joe handed her a slip of paper with his cell phone number to her before going to talk with Captain Singh.

"All of our victims claim their bodies were hijacked. Moving on their own." Joe reported to the police Captain.

"Great so the kidnapper is a meta-human…How's Kid Flash? Sounds like he took quite a beating rescuing the Mayor and company."

"He… ran off when we noticed the kidnapper's body was missing."

"I still cannot believe this psycho got away."

Barry and Ben made their way into the police station and found Joe, Captain Singh and a lower level cop interviewing The Mayor, the District Attorney and the Assistant District Attorney, or at least they had just finished with the interviews.

"Ok… I'm going to go check in with Joe and the Captain. See if there's anything we can do to find this Puppet Master guy." Barry knew this was a risk bringing Ben, but this was someone he was familiar with.

"Good call. I'll talk with Detective Richard Caesar."

"Who?"

"Richard Caesar. The guy talking to the ADA David Caesar? Seriously? You don't know Detective Caesar and ADA Caesar are brothers?" Ben looked at his father quizzically "Detective Caesar had been on the force for twenty plus years in 2020 and his brother started off as a lawyer that same year only becoming the Assistant District Attorney recently."

"I just… never interacted with them… until now."

"Really? Caesar has been working here for nearly fifteen years and you've never even talked to the guy? For shame Barry."

"Hey Barry…" Joe walked over to the two Allens noticing that Ben was with Barry. The two young men could have easily been mistaken for brothers or even twins. "What is…"

"Oh, Ben worked on this case in-"

"2025." Ben said. "I worked on this case alongside Detective Caesar."

"Ah…" Joe nodded while Barry looked at his son curiously. If he remembered Ben's aging process correctly, then he was working on the case when he was only sixteen. "Well… Captain Singh made this Caesar's Case any way. So, if Ben wants to be in on this he'll need to talk with David. And get a backstory."

"That's easy. Where I'm from Rick and I are pretty good friends. I can easily befriend him a second time." Ben made his way past Barry and Joe and towards Captain Singh. "Excuse me Captain Singh!" The Captain turned to Ben as Barry and Joe followed closely behind. "I believe I can help Detective Caesar on this case."

"Joe, who is this?"

"Oh this? this is…" Joe began but Ben jumped in.

"Hi, Detective August Heart." Ben reached out and shook the Captain's hand. "I'm here on behalf of the Coast City Police Department." He ignored the funny looks he got from Joe and Barry for giving a false name to the police captain.

Singh cocked an eyebrow. "Really? You came all the way from Coast City in such a short amount of time?"

"I uh… took the train. Red eye."

"OK, Detective Heart… What brings you to Central City?"

"Honestly it's the Puppet Master Case."

"The what?" Joe and Singh asked. Barry kind of knew of the case. Other than the name though he knew nothing.

"The man who abducted Mayor Karon and DA Levine did something similar in Coast City. Abducted the Mayor and the DA to show his reach and power. We kept it rather hush hush because if word got out that a crime lord could get to anyone panic would spread like a wildfire."

"How could you possibly know that?" Singh asked "That information hasn't been released."

"Honestly it's just luck that I'm in the right city at the right time. Odds were, he'd strike in any of the major cities like Metropolis or even Gotham. We just got lucky."

Singh nodded. "Any clue where this psycho will strike next?"

"Well, if he follows the same patterns as before…" He shared a look with Barry and the Flash understood what Ben meant. They were going to nail this guy quick because they already knew when and where he was going to hit next. "The Puppet Master's going to go after all the major crime families and rings in Central and Keystone City."

"Not much of them around." Joe voiced his opinion. In his tenue as a cop there had only been a few crime syndicates. All of them fairly minor and dissolved within a year thanks to the tireless work of Central City's Finest. "I think the last major mob left town after Snart and Rory hit their Casino, what five years ago?"

'August' raised an eyebrow. "No way. These guys did the only sensible thing. They went underground." Ben made his way to a computer and pulled up two maps of both Central City and her sister city, Keystone. "Look, all throughout Central and Keystone City there are dozens of hidden passages crisscrossing the City. They were used as part of the underground railroad and then again during prohibition."

"And where do you suppose we start? That's hundreds of miles of abandoned subways and collapsed tunnels that are not on any official city plan." The Captain was quite curious about this detective from Coast City. He knew quite a lot for someone who just came to town.

August knew exactly how to answer. "We start by searching all the buildings built between 1920 and 1933 along with any part of the city that was around during the Civil War."

"That's a hundred years' worth of city to look through." Singh argued.

"Not if we pass the message onto one of those three Speedsters I saw running around the City."

"Something tells me they might already know." Barry said beneath his breath.

Singh ran a hand through his hair. This case was going to be annoyingly difficult since their kidnapper was M.I.A. after abducting and mutilating three of the most powerful people in Central City. "Alright detective Heart…You're on the case. I'll go tell Rick you'll be working with him. You should go introduce yourself."

"Thank you, Captain. I'll be there in a minute… I just need to finish my earlier discussion with Detective West and Mr. Allen."

"Of course," Singh left Joe Barry and Ben and walked over to Detective Caesar.

"OK…August… what's with the fake name?" Joe asked his future grandson.

"If Captain Singh looks up August Heart he will find one Detective Heart working out of Coast City. Why use a fake ID when I give him a real one? I know August very well where I'm from, he'd be fine with me borrowing his identity." Ben explained.

"Yeah but don't you think using someone's name without asking is a good idea. Pretty sure this is identity theft." Joe kind of figured that they were going t be breaking quite a few laws with the time traveling young man.

"Maybe… but for now let's go find the Puppet Master."

* * *

 **S.T.A.R. Labs**

 **7:25 AM**

Caitlin flashed into the cortex in a torrent of blue lightning. "Hey Cisco." She said to her best friend. "What's up?"

"Did you hear the news?" Cisco whirled around sucking on a lollipop. "The Mayor, The District Attorney and the Assistant District Attorney were all attacked."

"I heard." Caitlin slid into the seat next to Cisco. "Barry and Ben are on it. Ben seems to know more about it than anyone else."

"Uh huh…" Cisco rolled his eyes slightly. "Speaking of… I noticed that Ben was at your place last night. Care to elaborate as to why?"

"Barry and I thought it might be for the best that We treat Ben like a human and our son rather than a prisoner."

"Well, I'll just say be careful. Both of you. Don't want either of you turning into Catholic Bunnies." Cisco returned to his work leaving Caitlin blushing before she turned back to her work station.

They worked for short while before the alarm went off.

"Robbery in Progress!" Cisco analyzed the screen. "Scratch that! We've got two happening at the same time! No! Three!"

Caitlin watched the alarms going off. Half a dozen banks across the City were being hit all at once. "Barry and Ben should have heard about this already. Suit up Cisco. We'll need your help." Caitlin flashed over to the suit hanging up and was out of the room in a heartbeat.

Caitlin arrives on the scene to see half a dozen armed men holding everyone in the bank hostage while several others unloaded the contents of the safe into several duffle bags. Each of them was wearing a completely black outfit and a skull shaped mask that completely covered their face.

" _ **Shit! It's the Flash! Shoooo**_ …"Caitlin took a deep breath and let the lightning flow through her. She took off in a blue blur jamming her right index finger into the back of each of their necks sending just enough electricity through their nervous systems to temporarily paralyze the assailants for at least one hour. Perk of being a doctor with super powers, she knew how to use them to immobilize a human target without actually hurting them. As they all fell simultaneously Caitlin disarmed them and dismantled each gun in the time it took for them to fall.

" _ **Stop right there, Flash. Or this woman Dies**_!" Caitlin turned to see one last robber holding a woman close with his pistol pressed firmly against her cranium.

" _ **Let her go."**_ Caitlin ordered.

" _ **I think not."**_ The woman whimpered as the barrel dug deeper. " _ **You're going to let me out of here or I'm going to blow her brains out."**_

" _ **OK… Ok…"**_ Caitlin held her hands up as if surrendering. " _ **You win. I'll let you go… just don't hurt her."**_ Caitlin's bluff seemed to work as the man removed the gun from the woman's head before shoving her, that was her signal to move.

Caitlin rushed forward catching the woman and bringing her to safety. She then rushed back at the man intending on paralyzing him but her foot caught on something forcing her to trip and fall to the ground.

The robber wasted no time and aimed his gun at Caitlin and unleashed a torrent of bullets but she was too fast as she moved out of the way, moving innocent civilians to safety as she did. She made a move to rush him again. This time he cast aside his gun and leaped over Caitlin's head like a grasshopper.

She caught a glint between his hands and barely managed to duck and avoid what was a razor thin wire that seemed to be emanating from his very palms.

" _ **You're a meta-human**_?" Caitlin wondered aloud. She had been expecting to be simple but.

" _ **You're half right**_." The man threw back his hand while a dozen or so wires erupted from it twisting together creating a thick rope of metallic wire. It latched onto one of the support column before he ripped it out and swung it like a flail.

Caitlin easily moved between each of his attacks closed the distance and sent an electric discharge throughout his body, enough to not only temporarily paralyze him but also knock him out from the pain.

The man collapsed to his knees but refused to fall any further.

" _ **It's over."**_ Caitlin approached him to remove his mask but the man looked up seemingly unamused.

" _ **You have no idea what is coming… This was merely a game of chess… and sometimes pieces need to be sacrificed in order to attain victory.**_ " The man in the skull mask said to the female Flash. With her super speed Caitlin failed to react in time as all the robbers took out their guns and instead of aiming for the hostages or Caitlin they turned the guns on themselves and shot themselves in their heads simultaneously. They all should have been paralyzed and their guns dismantled and yet here they were ready to commit mass suicide.

The gunshots rang out and people screamed as blood and brain matter showered the walls, floors and hostages. Caitlin was used to seeing death, but nothing like this. This was horrifying. When the massacre subsided, she contacted the paramedics and Joe informing him what happened before contacting Barry, Ben, Cisco and even Wally on their comm. frequency.

"Guys… I uh… I have a situation…"

" _You're telling me… these guys just killed themselves."_ Cisco's voice said and Caitlin's eyes widened in shock.

"Did they all shoot themselves in the head?"

" _They um… Yeah… how'd you know that?"_

"Because that's what happened here…"

" _Everyone meet back in STAR Labs. Ben and I'll check out what the police have from this."_ Barry's voice was calm and collected, just what Caitlin needed to hear after witnessing all the bloodshed.

* * *

 **Earnest Bank**

 **8:30 AM**

Over at one of the Banks Joe looked up from interviewing one of the hostages to see his son and future grandson walking in.

"Six banks robbed simultaneously across Central and Keystone City and All these men commit Suicide at the exact same time? Can't be a coincidence. Too many years on the force to believe in coincidences anymore." Joe turned to Ben hoping for a possible explanation.

"Well, If I had to hazard a guess this may have been the work of Puppet Master. Seems like his M.O. but it's impossible to tell, especially if this is so close to the attack on the Mayor and company." He was going to add some more explanation but he was cut off by an officer.

"Detective West! You're going to want a look at this." Joe Barry and Ben made their way to one of the deceased robbers. The Police officer had removed his skull shaped mask and found something none of them were expecting. The Man's mouth had been gagged. And Barry knew that this was the man who was talking to him, he was the last one to shoot himself in the head. So, the million-dollar question was 'what the hell is going on?'

"I hope you've got an explanation for this." Joe said to Ben.

"Yeah… I do… get everyone to S.T.A.R. Labs."

* * *

 **S.T.A.R. Labs**

 **10:11 AM**

"The Puppet Master can control people?" Wally asked after hearing Ben's explanation as to why every robber was gagged and why they committed suicide in unison.

"Yes, despite our limited knowledge on the Puppet Master's identity we were able to determine that he is a Meta-Human whose powers are related to either strings or wire." Ben showed everyone the file on the Puppet Master. "He acts through agents or victims using his abilities to manipulate them from the shadows, there for he avoids unwanted attention and leave absolutely zero forensic evidence that indicates who he really is.

"He's a crime lord with Meta-Human powers. Great…" Joe wasn't too happy about a new crime boss on the scene. "Any idea what his 'product' is? All mafia and mobs have some sort of business."

Ben sighed. "Honestly he's got his fingers in a little bit of everyone's pie. Black Market weapons, narcotics, illegal drugs, smuggling, assassinations and even human trafficking, you name it the Puppet Master has control over it. Though thankfully he's still early in his career, he hasn't gotten his hands on MH-52."

"MH-52?" Caitlin asked.

"It's a drug that temporarily can give ordinary people abilities." Ben explained. "In my time, Puppet Master flooded this drug throughout the world creating mass hysteria as thousands of people became vigilantes or straight up criminals, it turned the world against us Meta-Humans and anyone else with powers of any kind."

Remembering part of their previous conversation Cisco needed to voice his thoughts. "Is this related to The Fall that you mentioned yesterday?" That got some curious looks from Barry, Caitlin and Wally.

"Sort of, The Fall, as it's known, is the day all the heroes and vigilantes who went renegade were captured and or killed by the Neo Heroes. I was a part of the Neo Heroes, or the NJL if you want to get technical."

"You mean you killed other Heroes?" Barry asked surprised to learn this about his son, especially after the evening Caitlin and he spent getting to know Ben. To think he had taken a life before.

"They were in the wrong. Causing more harm than good. Look we tried to apprehend them peacefully but when they refused we had to use force, non-lethal, until things escalated and we were forced to take their lives if we could not subdue them." Ben defended his actions. Did he regret them? Not in the least since he killed the man who was responsible for his mother's death on that day, the only thing he regretted was that his protégé never saw him in the same light after that day. "believe me, I never wanted to kill anyone. I only wanted to bring them to justice. I won't be Judge, Jury or Executioner unless I have no other choice."

Suddenly STAR Labs' Satellites began to detect unusual activity. Immediately Cisco was at his computer tracking the source. "We've got unusual weather phenomena over on the west bank of the river!"

"Unusual weather usually means Weather Wizard is in town. Alright," Barry turned to Caitlin, Wally and Ben. "Suit up!" In Flashes of yellow, courtesy of the boys, and blue all four speedsters were in their suits and out the door on their way to the source of the disturbance.

"Hey, Barry!" Barry looked over his shoulder at Ben running alongside him. "On the off chance this isn't Mardon I think we might need Eddie for this one!"

"Cisco! Call Eddie! Ben says we might need him!"

* * *

 **Northern Central City**

 **3:19 PM**

"Alright here we are." Detective Richard Caesar volunteered to watch over his big brother so here he was taking him home. "So, I'll be staying out here tonight Dave."

"That's really kind of you Rick but I don't need a babysitter. I doubt those thugs will try anything so soon especially now that I've got the best cop on the force watching me."

Richard smiled. He and his brother had always been close, ever since childhood days in the orphanage. They literally started with nothing but with a lot of hard work, perseverance and quite frankly a little luck, they managed to become a badass crime fighting duo. One brother would catch the bad guys while the other would put them away for good. "Come on Dave. You know the procedure. I'll be out her all night."

"You know, it is the duty of the older brother to look out for the younger one… Dicky." There it was Dave used the nickname Richard really disliked. Not that he was trying to be mean rather it was innocent fun.

"Look man… just… be careful you know? I don't want to lose my big brother." Dave opened the care door and stepped out of the police cruiser.

"Don't worry, you won't. I'll check in with you tomorrow little Brother." The Assistant District Attorney gave his little brother a wave before unlocking his front door and stepping into his house.

Making his way through his home. David turned on his stereo, an excerpt from the opera _Carmen._ He loved that opera. But what he really needed now was a strong drink.

" _ **So? How was it?"**_ The ADA froze in place and turned around to see a man in a white suit. " _ **How was the first day of your criminal empire Puppet Master?"**_

David Caesar smirked. "Oh, it was fantastic. I even almost killed that Kid Flash. Shame detective west 'killed' my little puppet. I always knew I was destined for great things but tell me, why didn't you let me kill the Mayor and the District Attorney? I had them hanging by those nooses and you stopped me."

" _ **Patience… you'll have your day Puppet Master. For now, concentrate on building your empire. With your abilities that should be simple**_."

David held out his hand and let several thin wires shoot out from his fingertips making his hand resemble a crossbar used by puppeteers. "I never would have thought how to use these powers if you hadn't instructed me. Tell me, how did you grant me these powers? I thought the Particle Accelerator Explosion what made all those Meta-Humans."

" _ **That is a story for another time**_. _ **For now, you have work to do. The Flash and his allies are being distracted. Nothing will be interfering with your empire for the time being.**_ " Godspeed seemed to chuckle before vanishing in a flurry of gold and white.

* * *

This is the end of the chapter

Please tell me what you liked, didn't like, look forward to/think will happen, or your general thoughts and comments, this will help me make the story better; I'm a big boy so I can take criticism. And if you Review you get a Shout Out and questions answered either privately or in the next chapter.

 **SEVEN REVIEWS, FAVORITES OR FOLLOWS AND I'LL TRY TO UPDATE IN A WEEK. EVERY TWO OVER THAT AND I'LL DO ONE DAY SOONER.**

 **(i.e. 9 R/F/F = 6-day update)**

Have a Fantastic day


	7. The Tempest Twins

**Disclaimer:** The following is a nonprofit Fan based story; The FLASH and all related characters are owned by DC comics, the CW and anyone I may have missed.

Like I always seem to say to the point of redundancy (doesn't mean it's any less true) I love everyone who Reviews, Favorites and or Follows any of my stories. Again, if I didn't respond I apologize and just let me know.

Reviews: **josephguy217, AReiss215, changingdestiny40, Guest (1), Guest (2) HulkVahkiin** and **Master Skywalker 121**

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This chapter took a little longer to write because of all the science I had to check and recheck for the fight sequence with the villains of this chapter a lot of stuff involving Sound, Wind, and some Meteorology. I tried using some numbers to make things easier for everyone to understand. If you want to know more about the science behind all your favorite superheroes go check out Because Science with Kyle Hill on YouTube. He does an excellent job of explaining how powers work scientifically.

Not only that but There was a lot of plot development here. I'll leave you guys to read it and speculate.

 _The Flash: Survival of the Fastest_

Chapter 6: The Tempest Twins

 **Downtown Central City**

 **10:08**

Iris West-Thawne and her husband Eddie Thawne walked slowly down the road hand in hand. She and Eddie had been married for about ten months and they could not be happier. Eddie came over to Central City Picture News to pick her up for their weekly lunch date. Thrice a week they would go out to eat. Once for breakfast. Once for dinner. And obviously once for lunch. Yes, ten o'clock was considered a little early for lunch but it was going to be Eddie's only downtime for the day.

"So, Iris, what's new at Picture News?" Eddie asked his beautiful wife.

"Well, my boss Scott, you remember Scott, right?" Eddie nodded so Iris continued. "He's saddled me with two new interns. Their names are Derick and Daphne North. I swear those two are like my shadow. They refuse to leave me alone even for a minute."

"So, they're stalking you?" Eddie teased. "Want me to run a background check on them?"

Iris smiled as she leaned in to her husband resting her head against his shoulder. She had everything she could possibly want, well, almost everything. "That's not necessary Eddie. They just want to learn from the best as they put it but I know I'm no Lois Lane."

"No, you are better." Eddie leaned in and gave his wife a quick kiss on the lips.

The two of them smiled blissfully unaware of the two figures following them from the shadows.

"This is bad." The first one said. "This is not how things were supposed to play out."

"You know the rules. We cannot change events that have already happened!" The other spoke in a criticizing tone.

"Doesn't mean we cannot guide them to their destinies." The second individual roughly grabbed the first and pinned him against the wall.

"We do NOT mess with people's lives! If we do that then we are no better than HIM! After everything he's done to us, to our family, we cannot allow ourselves to stoop to his level of pettiness for some misguided vengeance."

The first figure pointed a finger in Detective Thawne's direction. "He's supposed to be dead!"

"And we are not killers! We're not going to kill someone, especially an innocent man for something he never did!" The second figure sighed heavily before continuing. "Please… just… just forget about detective Thawne… our mission is to protect her from the shadows… no matter what…"

They peered out from the shadow to see Eddie and Iris being seated at an outdoor café.

"What's on your mind Iris?" Detective Thawne asked his wife. He could tell something was bothering her especially since she hardly touched her lunch.

"Hmm? Oh, it's nothing babe."

"Come on Iris, you can tell me anything."

She wanted to argue but her husband made that difficult. "OK… I know… there are somethings about… us we haven't quite talked about yet…" Eddie nodded. "And I know you have your reservations about… certain aspects of being married… especially those related to Dr. Wells…"

"Iris…"

"I want to have a baby Eddie!" Iris blurted out unable to contain herself any longer. She could read his face almost immediately, Eddie didn't quite know how to respond. "And look, I know how you want to avoid it because of Dr. Wells or Eobard. But there are other options… like maybe we could adopt or-"

Eddie could see how much Iris wanted to be a mother. Heck he knew that she would be a fantastic mother, "Iris… you know how I feel about this whole thing. Who's to say that any child I have or even adopt eventually becomes Eobard Thawne's ancestor. I am already that and I promised myself that I would do everything I can to prevent his return after he was pulled into that singularity thing three years ago."

Iris felt tears beginning to well up. "Whatever happened to 'Screw the future?' That's been our mantra ever since Dr. Wells showed you the newspaper from the future. The one that said I was going to marry Barry?"

Eddie was about to speak when a clap of thunder resonated across the city. The young married couple turned to the source of it to see a field of black clouds gathering over the Riverbank on the Central City side of the Missouri River. They could see the lightning falling from the cloud like rain

"Oh my god…" Iris covered her gasping mouth as she watched the devastation. She turned to Eddie knowing what he needed to do. "Go. GO!"

Whenever Eddie needed to suit up as Cobalt Blue he always did two things first. The first thing he did was give Iris a passionate kiss. The second was whisper to her four small words. "I love you Iris."

Thankfully no one was paying attention to Eddie as he pulled his grandmother's ring out from around his neck. The ring acted as a conduit for his abilities, allowing him to control them without the risk of them running rampant. Soon Detective Thawne was surrounded in a twister of blue flames. He stood there wearing a black body suit with a white T on his chest. Blue flames formed Boots, gauntlets and even a mask. He gave Iris a slight smile before running off towards the disturbance leaving to tails of blue flames.

" _Eddie!"_ Cisco's voice came over the comm system into Eddie's ear.

"What's going on Cisco?"

" _Dunno! Ben said we might need you to deal with this! And from the looks of things we're going to need you!"_

"OK, I'm on my way to the Riverside Park."

 **Central City Riverside Park**

 **10:17 AM**

The Speedsters screeched to a stop at the waterfront and they were immediately hit by a wall of wind and lightning.

Barry was surprised as to what they saw. Two large creatures, one composed of massive wisps of winds while the other was a black skeleton surrounded by a body of yellow electricity.

Any civilian unfortunate enough to still be in the vicinity was thrown with gale force winds or impaled by stray lightning bolts. Springing into action each speedster grabbed as many people as they could and pulled them from harm.

"What the Hell are those!?" Wally screamed over the roaring winds.

"Flash, Flash, Kid Flash… Allow me to introduce you to Whirlwind and Overload, the Tempest Twins." The Future Flash said to his parents and uncle.

" _ **FLASH!"**_ The Wind monster roared as it threw a cyclone arm forward unleashing winds that could rival a category 1 hurricane. Barry and Ben ran right while Caitlin and Wally ran left.

"WHAT DO WE DO?" Wally yelled over the high winds.

Overload threw a punch, which was more like a pure column of lightning, at the speedsters who easily dodged but he covered the distance in an instant and placed his hands onto Wally's chest. " _ **DIE**_!" There was a flash of yellow electricity and a crack of thunder as Wally felt the electricity surge across his heart and throughout his entire body making Kid Flash fall to the ground limply.

"KID FLASH!" Caitlin caught Wally immediately and pulled him out of the fight.

Placing two fingers on Wally's neck Caitlin felt for a pulse. It was there, but erratic. Overload's attack had thrown his heart out of rhythm and she needed to get it back before he died. "Come on… come on Wally…" Caitlin began to rub her hands together generating some electricity. Between her and Barry she had also been able to develop her speed powers to be more tuned to medical needs. Using the electricity in her hands Caitlin shocked Wally's heart back into a proper rhythm.

"Damn…What the hell just happened?" Kid Flash asked clutching his chest in slight discomfort.

Caitlin in doctor mode placed a hand on the young speedster's chest. "Stay calm you just had a Cardiac Arrhythmia.

Whirlwind tried to send a tornado at Caitlin and Wally but Ben jumped in the way, rotating his arms to create a cyclone spinning in the opposite direction, canceling out the tornadoes. Whirlwind, Overload and Ben shared looks of pure disdain, clearly, they had a past, one Ben was not sure he should share considering what their father did.

Overload leaped into the air and raised his arms high. Dozens of lightning bolts fell from the sky like rain striking everything in the park, on the river and beyond, just pure chaos. Barry did his best to try and save as many people as he could but for every person he saved another was either struck by lightning or they were crushed by falling debris.

"NO!" Barry screamed. He hated to see people being injured or worse, it made him feel like a failure.

While Barry and Ben moved to fight Overload Caitlin and Wally ran after Whirlwind but the gusts she was creating threw them back with hurricane force winds.

" _ **Come on Sis!"**_ Overload held out his hand and a large amount of electricity collected in his hand. Whirlwind grinned as she formed a mini tornado in her own hand. They put their hands together and the lightning and wind began to swirl until it formed a black sphere crackling with electricity.

"What is that thing?" Wally asked

"That is bad news." Ben said "That is like a mini storm in the palm of their hands and it has enough power to easily level at least a few city blocks."

"How do we stop it?" The Female Flash asked

"Inside is a whirlpool of wind and lightning! Last time they used that it wiped an entire city off the map, though it was on a much bigger scale! If they use it there is not much we can do!"

" _ **Let's blow this crappy city to the next world**_!" Whirlwind gleefully said while taking the black sphere from her brother. She wound up like a baseball player but suddenly she and her brother were surrounded by a wall of blue flames. " _ **What is this**_?"

Barry, Ben, Caitlin and Wally all turned to see Eddie join them.

"Nice to see you Cobalt Blue." Barry said grinning.

"Nice to see you too Flash."

There was a crack of thunder that drew the attention of the five speedsters. Overload discharged some of his electricity with a thunderclap that did two things; One it completely neutralized Eddie's Flames. Two, Just the sound of Overload's Thunderclap unleashed a shock wave in all directions. It decimated everything in a 407,000 ft2 area. Windows and Glass shattered as hundreds of people either clutched their ears in pain as their eardrums ruptured or they dropped to the ground dead as the sound waves ruptured their internal organs. the speedsters somehow managed to not die despite having what was roughly the same as a metric ton of explosives going off next to them but even with their healing speeds they were all stricken temporarily deaf, making this fight much more challenging.

Caitlin dodged another wind blast as her hearing slowly returned. The instant Overload unleashed his thunderclap she let her instincts take over. She grabbed Wally and tried to get as far away from the center of the blast as she could. She was unable to completely outrun the blast but she was able to get far enough away so that the damage was mitigated, but that didn't stop the rupturing of her eardrums.

"…ARE YOU GUYS OK…?" Barry was clearly screaming but she could barely hear him over the high pitch ringing in his ear.

"…I…I'M FINE…!" She yelled back completely unsure if he heard her.

"…guys…" She could barely hear Cisco's voice through the coms. "…get….out…there…" From what she heard it sounded panicked and frightened.

"…CISCO…!" She screamed over the high pitch ringing but the sudden attack of Overload drew her attention back into the fight.

" _ **I DON'T CARE HOW MANY SPEEDSTERS THERE ARE! WE'LL KILL YOU ALL!"**_ Overload screamed as he moved to attack the slightly dazed and temporarily deaf Speedsters.

All Barry could hear was the high pitch whine. This was worse than that time he fought Black Siren.

 **On the Roof of a Nearby Building**

Watching the battle from above Godspeed enjoyed watching The Flash and his compatriots suffer, he was however upset whenever Whirlwind and Overload attacked Dr. Snow. She was, as he constantly put it, Integral to his plan, and for that to come to pass she needed to be alive and retain her speed.

"Godspeed"

The white speedster turned to see one of his associates, one who had been by his side for as long as he could remember. She was a beautiful woman who, like him and so many others, had been kissed by the Speed Force, though unlike many other Speedsters this woman already had an ability. The Speed Force just made it far more powerful and dangerous to the point even Godspeed was weary of her capabilities despite her insistence she would never use her abilities on him.

"I thought I might find you here. Surveying the work of the Tempest Twins I see."

" _ **They are meant to serve as a distraction for the Flash and his friends, nothing more**_." The white speedster growled in a low tone. They might not be from this reality but that didn't stop Godspeed from despising the Tempest Twins. " _ **I would like nothing more than to see The Flash kill them both**_. _**In fact, I'm counting on it.**_ "

The woman sensually cupped Godspeed's masked face while rubbing her other hand against his chest. "Whatever did they do to you? And do not lie. You know I can find out anything no matter how hard one tries to hide it."

The speedster ignored her sexual advances. It had always been like this between them but she was right there was no point in hiding it from her. " _ **They did nothing. It's what their father did**_." He said with venom dripping from each word. " _ **What their Barry Allen did**_."

"That bad huh?"

Godspeed ignored her and stood up. " _ **He got what he deserved. These two will get whatever comes to them."**_ In a flash of gold and white lightning he was gone taking his confidant with him.

 **Riverside Park**

" _ **Time to turned this damned city into a crater**_!" Overload and Whirlwind took each other's' hand and formed another black storm sphere.

"NO!" Ben screamed as he watched them fire it into the air. He knew how this worked. The black sphere would react with nearby storm clouds collecting them together until they formed one massive cloud sphere basically a bomb with more than enough energy to vaporize a city. "You guys have fought Weather Wizard before, right?"

"We have. he's currently on the lamb thanks to Snart busting him out to form his new rouges team." Caitlin explained

"But you still have the wand right?"

"You'd have to talk to Cisco about that. I don't know if its at S.T.A.R. Labs or in Evidence Lockup."

"CISCO!" Ben screamed into his comms. "PLEASE TELL ME YOU GUYS HAVE WEATHER WIZARD'S WAND!"

 _"Uh yeah, it's in CCPD Evidence Lockup. Why?"_

"WE'RE GOING TO NEED IT PRONTO!" Ben turned to Barry. "DAD! GET TO THE CCPD AND GET THE WEATHER WAND!"

"ON IT!" Barry nodded and took off towards the police station. a few seconds later he was back holding the Wizard's Wand. The five speedsters looked up to the sky as the dark clouds.

"Now what?" Wally asked

Ben took the wand from his dad and looked up. "So, how many of you guys have insulated suits?"

"Wait! You cannot be seriously thinking about someone going into that storm!" The instant Ben began to spoke Caitlin figured out exactly what his plan was.

"I have to do this mom." Ben gave his mom a hug before beginning to run.

" _ **NO!"**_ Whirlwind screamed. She threw her arm forward to try and blast Ben with a raging tornado but Caitlin countered by using the same trick Ben had used earlier with a tornado spinning in the opposite direction.

"Leave my son alone you Bitch." Caitlin growled as she allowed the blue lightning to dance around her.

"KEEP THEM OFF OF ME!" Ben yelled to his parents, uncle and Cobalt Blue as he raced to the highest closest building and leaped through the air and into the storm cloud.

 **Inside the Storm**

Ben entered into the Swirling mass of wind and lightning and immediately felt like he was being torn apart at the same time as being burned alive by endless strikes of lightning. One lightning bolt raced through the storm as if guided and it struck Ben in the head. For Ben, it jogged something that didn't seem to fit properly in his mind whatever it was.

 _"Subject 52-Alpha is ready Sir." The voice of someone said. Definitely a man talking._

 _"Do it."_

 _"Subject 52-Alpha has failed Sir, might I suggest we move on to 52-Omega."_

 _"52-Omega was always the better choice. Do it."_

Ben kept running ignoring the images playing over and over in his head. that's when he saw something. A flicker of gold lightning rushed past him and that's when Ben Saw him. Godspeed was there running alongside him.

"… Godspeed…" Ben could not believe what he was seeing. Was Godspeed helping him? And how was Godspeed avoiding every single lightning bolt that split around the storm.

The white clad speedster turned to Ben gave him a small salute before tearing off running even faster than Ben thought was possible on the air itself.

 **Riverside Park Down Below**

Down below the storm the four speedsters engaged against the Tempest Twins. Barry and Wally were fighting Overload while Caitlin and Eddie fought

"EDDIE! GO AS HOT AS YOU CAN BUT KEEP THE FLAMES CONTAINED!" Barry screamed over the wind.

"WHY?"

"YOU'LL BE CREATING A LARGE AREA OF RAPIDLY ASCENDING AIR CURRENT! THUS CREATING AN AREA OF LOW PRESSURE!"

While Caitlin distracted Whirlwind, Cobalt Blue began to generate a much flames as he could, making a large hot bonfire around him.

Whirlwind felt it. She felt the winds she was generating being stripped away from her by Cobalt Blue. Without those winds to protect her she was as weak and defenseless as an ordinary human.

" _ **BROTHER**_!" She yelled hoping her brother would react and go after Cobalt Blue but moments later Her wind armor was completely gone revealing the young woman beneath the tornado.

Without breaking a stride Caitlin rushed in and punched her in the jaw while sending a jolt through her body knocking her out while Wally retrieved the power dampening cuffs and slapped them on her wrists.

" _ **NO!**_ " Overload screamed as he blitzed over to Caitlin, Wally and his injured sister. He moved as a massive deadly conscious lightning bolt.

"NOW!" Barry and Wally lunged into Overload. The electrical Meta-Human wrapped his massive arms around the foster brother duo and discharged severe amounts of electricity. For Barry it felt like when he was struck by lightning all those years ago only worse.

Wally and Barry fought through the pain and ran Overload out onto the river before making the move to push him underwater. Lightning exploded everywhere and raced all throughout the river, Upstream, downstream and even from the surface to the riverbed frying every living thing the lightning could reach. Barry and wally lay floating in the water with the unconscious body of Overload between them. Getting him wet was more than enough to discharge all the electricity he had built up. It took the foster brothers a moment to recover before heading back to shore dragging the unconscious meta-human.

There was crackling of thunder and drew Barry's attention skyward and they all watched as the massive storm cloud burst apart unveiling the blue sky. falling from the sky was Ben lightning collected around him in an attempt to protect him. Paternal instincts kicked in and Barry raced up the building to catch his falling son. Barry leaped into the air "BEN!" He screamed to his son and thankfully he stirred. Barry couldn't help but smile as he grabbed his son.

Working in unison they began to swirl their arms creating large funnels of wind to slow their decent and cushion their fall "… Ben… you OK?" Barry asked

"Yeah…"

"Barry!" Ben and Barry turned just in time to see Caitlin close the distance and embrace Her boyfriend and future son in bone crushing hugs. She had just come dangerously close to losing them both and she didn't know what she would do if she did, thankfully she would not have to find out.

"…That's it…" Barry was out of breath. This was a hard battle almost like fighting a living storm. He looked to see Wally and Eddie standing near the unconscious Whirlwind, but there was something off about their expressions. "…it's over…"

"Hey… Barry… Ben… you're going to want to see this…" Caitlin said as she gently let Barry and Ben over to the defeated Tempest Twins.

Barry and Ben joined the rest of the speedsters and placed Overload on the ground next to his sister. Funny thing about them, they looked similar so obviously, they were fraternal twins, but more surprising was how much like Iris Whirlwind looked while Overload looked like Barry except with darker skin and black hair.

"What the hell…?" Eddie breathed turning to Barry. He could not help but feel anger building up inside him. Oh, how he hoped the explanation was not what he thought it was.

"Ben… Who are they?" Caitlin asked hiding her emotions behind her usual walls which seemed to be rebuilt almost instantly. Barry noticed her change in tone so he moved by her side.

"Allow me to reintroduce Overload and Whirlwind otherwise known as Donald and Dawn West Allen of Earth-4's Future." All five speedsters looked upon the unconscious bodies of two young adults that were clearly the offspring of Barry and Iris. Thousands of thoughts ran through everyone's heads.

 **S.T.A.R. Labs**

 **1:20 PM**

"They're our kids from an alternate timeline?" Iris asked as she watched the monitor displaying Don and Dawn in their respective cells at Iron Heights.

"Technically they're you're kids from a possible future or an alternate Earth." Cisco reiterated on behalf of Ben, who like all the other speedsters was getting his eardrums checked by Caitlin.

All of them had been far too close to Overload or Don West-Allen when he did the thunderclap. If it were not for their fast healing every one of them would have had their insides turned to mush by the sound pressure waves of the thunder.

"This is starting to get out of hand." Joe said. It was not hard for him to imagine Barry and Iris together even after his daughter's marriage to Eddie. But seeing how their children were Evil violent meta-humans seemed very hard to believe.

"Not the first time we've dealt with time traveling psychopaths from alternate realities. And it probably won't be our last." Iris and Joe both shrugged.

Iris could not tear herself away from the display. Sitting in Iron heights were Her and Barry's children. Well maybe not her and Barry's children but she still felt a connection to them. They looked so much like Iris and Barry that it was impossible for her not to feel something and it made her wonder. How on their Earth did Don and Dawn the so-called Tempest Twins turn out this way? Weren't they raised in a nurturing environment by Their Barry and Iris? If she and Barry had gotten together would their children end up like them? Too many monumental questions kept running through her head and Iris wanted them all answered. Unfortunately, the only place she could get answers was at Iron Heights and no one was going to let her go there especially not to talk to her alternate self's possible future children. Maybe she'd sneak out to Iron Heights to get some answers from the Tempest Twins herself, answers that can help the Team deal with Godspeed and maybe reveal his plan.

 **S.T.A.R. Labs Med Lab**

Caitlin peered into Ben's ears using her otoscope and was quite pleased to see that his eardrums were completely healed, as had all of hi electrical burns. It was almost as if his eardrums hadn't ruptured at all. It did strike her a little oddly since Ben seemed to be completely fine while the rest of them were still experiencing residual ringing and pain in their ears.

"Alright everyone is good to go." Caitlin said as she removed her gloves and properly disposed of them.

"What?" Wally asked still not hearing properly.

"We are all going to be fine. Our eardrums have all mostly healed and any damage we were inflicted with has healed."

"Thank you, Caitlin." Eddie said giving her a smile. He could tell what was bothering her since it was bothering him as well. He stood up and he and Wally left the Med Lab but Barry lingered in the doorway. Like Eddie he could tell that something was bothering his girlfriend and it was his duty to make her happy.

"Hey Cait... you OK?" Barry asked as he quietly joined Caitlin. He reached out to gently rub her shoulder but Caitlin shied away.

"It's nothing Barry… I'm fine…"

"No, I can tell something's bothering you. You know, because of your lip biting habit. Come on talk to me Cait."

"It's really nothing… I've just been thinking that's all…" The young couple proceeded to sit down on the treadmill.

"What about?"

"Us mostly… how the odds seem to be stacked against us... you know this whole Godspeed and Speed Demon thing." Barry could her Caitlin's fear and woe in her words. These were two speedsters they knew nothing about, but one had an Army of Speedsters from all across the Multiverse and their individual Timelines while the other was a nigh demonic force of pure death. "It's like, no matter what we do there's always another psychopathic Speedster out there who either wants to kill you, or take your powers away. I mean why do we even bother trying some times?"

"Cait..."

"I'm beginning to think this isn't about Godspeed or Speed Demon, is it?" Barry looked into her eyes. He could see her struggling to hold back her tears. "It's us, you're worried about."

Several tears managed to escape from Caitlin's eyes as she nodded her head. The identities of the Storm Siblings hurt her far more than it should have. "It's just… when we saw them… I don't know it feels like there's nothing to support us. It all seems to point at you and Iris being destined to be together. The Reverse-Flash's original Timeline, your Future Self's Timeline, Earth-2 and now Earth-4. What is there to tell us that we might work? I know I promised I would not let this sort of stuff get to me but… I cannot help but let it get to me."

Barry took Caitlin's hands in his own and began to draw small circles with his thumbs. He could not deny he didn't feel a certain pull to Iris. She was his first love, not some childhood crush, actual love. But Iris had made her choice and Barry needed to accept that and he certainly didn't want Caitlin to feel like she was a placeholder or a conciliation prize for Barry. He wanted her to know just how important and special she was to him.

"Caitlin… please… don't think for one second that we cannot work. Who cares if everything in the universe says otherwise." He gave her a reassuring smile, similar to the one he gave her after getting her back from Zoom. "I believe we chose our own paths through life and I want you to walk it with me." Still holding her hand Barry stood up making her follow suit. "You see Ben over there?" He gestured to their son sitting in the Cortex not really paying attention to what anyone was saying. "Ben is proof that you and me we can make this work Cait. So please don't be so ready to give up on us."

"Ok…" Caitlin nodded before taking a deep breath letting her anxiety pass. "Ok…" with a smile Barry pulled her into a tight embrace intending on never letting her go. They could and would make this work.

"Come on… Let's go home." Barry gently pulled away from their embrace before the two speedsters vanished in flurries of yellow and blue lightning.

 **Barry and Caitlin's Home**

 **9:20 PM**

Ben sat on the couch staring at nothing thinking of what he saw and the voices he heard when he was in the heart of the storm. Sure, they had won the hard fight but he still could not shake the feeling of that vision. Just what was it? It could not have been a memory nor could it be a vision. So, he closed his eyes and returned to the place.

 _He was in a dark Room. Restrained. It was cold. Perhaps some kind of Lab or something. He really could not say. It didn't fit anywhere in his memories and yet it felt more real than everything else._

 _"Subject 52-Alpha is ready Sir." The voice of someone said. Definitely a man talking._

 _"Do it." Those two words were followed by a blinding white light and searing pain racing all over his body as it felt like the left portion of his face was catching fire. The pain was so sever that he blacked out and all sound faded to nothing leaving him only with the monitors tracking his heartbeat._

 _"Subject 52-Alpha has failed Sir, might I suggest we move on to 52-Omega."_

 _"52-Omega was always the optimal choice. Do it."_

"Ben" Ben snapped back into reality to see his parents looking at him worriedly. "Hey, you OK?" Caitlin asked as she made a move to sit down next to him.

"Hm? Oh, I'm fine." Ben tried giving them a smile but there was an insincerity about it that didn't fool Barry or Caitlin.

"Ben…" Barry sat down on the other side of his son. "Please… something is bothering you, you can tell us."

"You knew who Whirlwind and Overload were the whole time. Why didn't you tell us?" Caitlin placed her hand on Ben's.

"I honestly did not know how you would respond and I was hoping that no one would see their faces." The young speedster took a deep breath. "I'm sorry… I can't do thins… I've got to go." Ben hastily stood up and grab his jacket. "I'll be back later. Bye mom, Bye dad." He gave his parents hugs

"Where are you going?" Barry demanded

 _To find some answers_ he said in his head but different words came out when he opened his mouth. "I… I am just going for a run… please don't follow me… I promise I'll be back real soon! You won't even notice I'm gone!" Before they could get another word in edgewise Ben vanished in the usual yellow lightning of speedsters.

"BEN!" Caitlin cried out before turning to Barry

"We have to go after him!" Caitlin nodded at her boyfriend's command and the young speedster couple raced after their son.

Barry and Caitlin crisscrossed all over the city. There was no way Ben could have gotten that far from them in such a short amount of time. Sure, he was much faster than both of them together but he could not just up and vanish.

 **Iron Heights Prison**

 **9:30 PM**

Don West-Allen of Earth-4 paced his cell in frustration. Across from him his twin brother just sat on the bed of his cell.

"YOU CAN'T LOCK US IN HERE!" He screamed in anger.

"Calm yourself Don… He'll come for us." Dawn said with faith in the man who brought them here.

"We should have never left our earth to join in this damned crusade."

Earth-4 was essentially the opposite of Earth-1, all the heroes were villains and all the villains were heroes. On their earth the Storm Siblings, as they were sometimes called, were quite literally forces of Nature. Their Father, Barry Allen of Earth-4, was feared as The Red Racer while their mother Iris West-Allen had inherited her father's criminal enterprise after usurping him, their suits came from their version of Reverb. The only one to stand against them and their criminal family was that damn Heroine named Frost. Soon after her arrival on the scene their father decided to show all of central City that he was in charge. The first thing he did when he beat Frost was have his wife film him raping her live for all Central City and beyond to see.

While the Red Racer was raping Frost on live TV there was a flash of gold and white lighting as a figure appeared behind their father and snapped his neck with such force his head did a complete 180. Before Earth-4 Barry even hit the ground the lightning clad figure ran off with Frost to whereabouts unknown. A month later Frost was back and she was much more ruthless and aggressive. In only one year She had managed to break every criminal organization in Central and Keystone City and lock up every criminal and renegade Meta-Human until only Dawn and Don were left. When all seemed lost that is when Godspeed approached them, offering them a chance to conquer a new City. One that did not have Frost.

Alarms began to blare and the tempest twins watched as guards began to run down the hall weapons at the ready.

"HEY! WHAT'S GOING ON OUT THERE!" One of the guards stopped and turned to Don.

"Quite down Prisoner!" The guard ordered before turning back to the commotion.

"Ignore them Donnie. It is just Godspeed come to break us out."

There was a flash of red and black lightning, the bodies of the guard went flying all over the meta-human wing. When the commotion died down standing between the two cells was a man clad completely in black armor with huge amounts of Speed Force Energy billowing off of him like a bonfire. His face was hidden beneath a skull shaped helm with glowing red eyes and lightning bold horns.

The Tempest twins looked at the newcomer and felt a wave of terror wash over them. Everyone had heard the stories about him. Speed Demon. A speedster whose sole purpose was to be the only speedster in existence, by murdering every other speedster in all of creation.

The demonic speedster ignored every word that escaped from Don's mouth as he stared down Dawn West-Allen before looking up to the cameras. In a flash of red and black lightning the cameras were broken and small wisps of red flames danced on his shoulders while he seemingly wrapped something metallic around his wrist.

"What the-" Speed Demon turned towards Dawn then over to Don. In another flash of red and black lightning he was right on the other side of the glass cell his eyes blaring red as if composed of pure hellfire. Don jumped back in surprise before smirking.

"Yeah… nice try buddy but these cells" He gestured to the space around him. "prevent speedsters like us from using our powers. Even if you could get in here, which you can't you'd never get out."

Speed Demon said nothing, instead his body vibrated violently giving off massive amounts of heat that even Dawn could feel across the hall. In an instant Speed Demon walked through the glass separating him from Don, melting it and compromising the integrity of the cell in one move.

In an instant Don began to gather all the electricity he could sense transforming himself into his massive lightning monster form. He thrust an arm forward in a feeble attempt of incinerating the devilish speedster. Speed Demon dodged the blow and threw his right arm forward unwrapping a chain he had on his wrist. The chain, as if it had a mind of its own, wrapped around Don West-Allen's neck and with a tug Speed Demon pulled him to the ground. His cold claws wrapped around Don's lightning face and their lightning flared to life. Bolts of red, black and green arced all over the cell burning and melting everything while the red and black lightning swiftly devoured every bolt of green.

Dawn screamed out for her twin feeling his pain as he was being drained of everything, but from within her cell she could do nothing except watch as Speed Demon harvested her brother.

All the energy composing don's lightning form flew into Speed Demon's mouth leaving nothing of Don West-Allen of Earth-4 but a charred skeleton sprawled out on the floor.

The flaming black speedster grabbed Dawn by the throat and held her high forcing her to look into his burning red eyes. Without a word he reached his hand up to wrap his claws around her pretty face stifling her screams.

This is the end of the chapter

So, tiny Author's note for your enjoyment. Speed Demon is the name of Three Different characters in both DC and Marvel. The DC Comics version is Jerry McGee (Dr. Christina McGee's Husband) The Marvel version is James Saunders originally known as The Whizzer and then there is my personal favorite The Amalgam Speed Demon, which is a combination of Barry Allen, Ghost Rider and Etrigan.

Please tell me what you liked, didn't like, look forward to/think will happen, or your general thoughts and comments, this will help me make the story better; I'm a big boy so I can take criticism. And if you Review you get a Shout Out and questions answered either privately or in the next chapter.

 **SEVEN REVIEWS, FAVORITES OR FOLLOWS AND I'LL TRY TO UPDATE IN A WEEK. EVERY TWO OVER THAT AND I'LL DO ONE DAY SOONER.**

 **(i.e. 9 R/F/F = 6-day update)**

Have a Fantastic day


	8. Calm Before the Storm

**Disclaimer:** The following is a nonprofit Fan based story; The FLASH and all related characters are owned by DC comics, the CW and anyone I may have missed.

Like I always seem to say to the point of redundancy (doesn't mean it's any less true) I love everyone who Reviews, Favorites and or Follows any of my stories. Again, if I didn't respond I apologize and just let me know.

Reviews: **AReiss215, Guest, changingdestiny40, wilsonenmanual43,** **HulkVahkiin** and **persin**

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 **Persin:** As you can see, I have updated. I try to be quicker the more it looks like people are interested.

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Followers: **wilsonenmanual43**

OK this might come off as a little selfish but I feel like there's not a whole lot of interest in this story. I know people are reading it but I just wish more people would show their support.

* * *

 _The Flash: Survival of the Fastest_

Chapter 7: Calm Before the Storm

* * *

 **Central City**

 **9:28 PM**

Caitlin and Barry continued to run around Central City looking for their son. He had run away so suddenly that they were understandably worried, and they slightly felt like idiots since it had been roughly twenty-four hours after removing his tracking/power-dampening anklet and he had run away.

"Hey anything?" Barry asked her as they met up.

Caitlin shook her head. "I can't find him anywhere. What I would give to be able to sense other speedsters right about now."

"You and me both Cait… Damn I am such an idiot for taking that anklet off."

"Barry… we both made the decision to remove Ben's cuff. There was no way of knowing that this would happen."

"Yeah, but he's still our responsibility. Come on, we have to find Ben." With a silent nod between them the two speedsters took off in separate directions lighting up the city with sparks of yellow and blue as they desperately searched for their missing son.

* * *

 **On a Roof overlooking the Central City Skyline**

 **9:39 PM**

Ben stood on the edge of the roof looking down. He didn't know what was wrong with him. The instant he left his parents' house he became lost in another vision/memory or whatever it was. He had heard about such things from people who messed with time where a simple act would cause a chain reaction that would instill new memories into a person and old ones were overwritten as time caught up with them. Ben wondered how this could be happening to him, he was being extraordinarily careful with what he was doing besides him going to the past and training his father is something he was supposed to do; train Barry to fight Godspeed so that Barry could in turn train him as he did.

The last memory he experienced was not very pleasant, having been strapped to a cold metal table with scientists poking and prodding him like some kind of lab rat. He remembered being raised up and held in place while hearing the same words he'd been hearing all afternoon.

* * *

 _"Subject 52-Alpha is ready Sir." The voice of someone said. Definitely a man talking._

 _"Do it." The gruff militaristic voice of the man in charge said._

 _Ben listened as the machines around him warmed up. He braced himself as best he could but nothing could prepare him for what these maniacs had planned. There was a flash of white light and pain gushed over ben's whole body as searing hot lightning danced all over him. This was not a normal lightning strike however. A normal bolt of lightning lasts between ten and fifty microseconds. This one lasted for a solid minute and then some but Ben seemed to lose count along with his consciousness._

 _He came to shortly after but the left side of his face felt like it was on fire as did his neck and left shoulder. Not only that but it smelt like charred flesh_

 _"Subject 52-Alpha has failed Sir, might I suggest we move on to 52-Omega?"_

 _"Sir I must voice my concerns." A female voice spoke. "52-Omega is still and infant. "even if this experiment works on adults it could kill the child."_

 _"Your concerns are taken into consideration Doctor, but 52-Omega was always the better choice his chances of survival are higher than all the other subjects. Take this failure and put him with the rest, and bring in 52-Omega."_

* * *

When Ben came out of the memory he was standing in his current location with blood on his hands.

"What is happening to me!" Ben clutched his head in pain. More images flashed through his mind and among the images, he saw Godspeed's masked face flashed across his mind. Why had he been in the storm? Why did he help Ben stop the storm? Was he responsible for what was happening? Maybe Ben should seek him out when he found the time.

He could not stop his frantic mind as he drifted into another series of images that contradict his life.

* * *

 _Ben was strapped down on some kind of stretcher being wheeled down cold damp hall ways. He tried vibrating out of the restraints but found he could not._

" _Don't struggle Subject 52-Alpha. You should feel honored you will be the vanguard of a new age/ An age where humanity stands taller than all the rest."_

" _Kiss… my… ass…"_

" _Don't worry, this insubordinate streak will die down. Especially if you don't want anything to happen to…" The man's voice faded to nothing as Ben began to hear another voice._

* * *

"Ben!?" Caitlin asked as she peered through the darkness. Her son was standing on the edge of a building. Hearing her voice Ben turned around to see his mother.

"Mom?! What are you doing here?"

Slowly Caitlin approached him. "We've been looking for you Ben. Barry and I, we are worried about you."

"Please… just leave me alone… you and Barry… you don't know me and right now… I don't think I even know myself…"

"What do mean Ben? Please… just talk to me… Believe me I'll understand."

"No… no you don't Mom…" Ben shook his head vigorously. "I feel like I'm losing my mind!"

"Ben… trust me… I know what you're going through. My mother… She went through this last year." Caitlin pleaded recalling the events with her mother when she suddenly developed cryokinetic powers and went on a rampage as Killer Frost. Ever since Earth-2, Caitlin had been worried about becoming Killer Frost she never wanted her mother to become Killer Frost.

"Your mother got hit by lightning and suddenly started seeing things that contradict everything he's known?" Ben's tone rose with each word and he seemed to get more and more frustrated.

"Not exactly… but my mother, she experienced visions and blackouts where she could not remember what she was doing." Caitlin didn't quite know how to respond. She really wanted to help Ben but she had no clue what she could say to him. "Ben please calm down…" She implored him. "Let us help you."

"I DON'T NEED YOUR HELP!" Ben screamed. His sudden outburst made Caitlin flinch and step back.

"I cannot help you Ben unless you want me to." Caitlin made a move to leave. "If you want me to help you, you know where to find us."

"Wait!" Caitlin stopped and turned back to ben, who had stepped down from the ledge. Ben wanted to talk, he wanted to say anything but he just could not find the words, so he just spoke. "Okay… Okay…" Ben sighed in defeat. "You're right… I… please help me…" He couldn't stop the tears as he allowed his mother to close the distance and embrace him tightly.

"Shhhhhhhhh…" She soothed him. "It's going to be ok Ben… everything will be ok. Come on… let's get you home."

* * *

 **Barry and Caitlin's Home**

 **11:30 PM**

Caitlin leaned against the doorframe watching Ben sleep. It had taken a little while but she managed to get him to fall asleep. She stood their silently until she heard the familiar woosh followed by the slight gust of wind which usually signaled her boyfriend was behind her.

"Hey… how's he doing?" Barry asked quietly.

"Better… I've been trying to get him to sleep ever since we got back. For a while he just kept having these nightmares. But now they seemed to have passed."

Barry kept his eyes glued on his son. He was really worried about him. "Good…"

They didn't know that Ben was awake just listening to them talk. He absorbed every word that was spoken as if Barry and Caitlin would disappear if he stopped.

"Where'd you find him?"

"Standing on the edge of a roof. For a moment, I was afraid he might jump."

"Jesus…" Barry ran his hand through his hair before covering his mouth. "Maybe… maybe we should think about putting the anklet back on him."

"And what will that accomplish? That will suppress his powers Barry, not the visions and blackouts."

Barry turned to his girlfriend confused. "He's having blackouts?"

Caitlin nodded. "He told me that when one of these visions or nightmares appears in his mind he ends up in a different place with no recollection of how he got there or why."

"Is this… you know… normal for him?" Caitlin shook her head at Barry's question.

"He told me it started shortly after our fight with the Tempest Twins." Caitlin did not want to use their real names because it hurt just thinking about them, let alone say them out loud.

"Did he say anything else about them?"

"No… just that he knows they are not real but that does not stop them from feeling as real as a suppressed memory. When we go to STAR Labs tomorrow I'm going to run some test just to be safe." Barry gave Caitlin a smile before pulling her in and placing a gentle kill on her forehead.

"Ok… come on let's get some sleep…" Slowly Barry pulled her towards their shared bedroom where in a flicker of lightning they were in the pajamas and beneath their cozy blankets. Barry wrapped his arms around Caitlin holding her warm body close. Soon the Flash and his girlfriend drifted off into the safety of their dreams.

* * *

 **7:00 AM**

Barry slowly woke up to the sight of Caitlin sleeping peacefully next to him. Her hair was sprawled all over the pillow while her right hand was lazily draped across his chest. She stirred slightly and Barry planted a gentle kiss on her forehead. before continuing to stare at his sleeping girlfriend.

"Why are you staring Barry?" She groaned into her pillow. "It's a little creepy."

"I believe the term you're looking for is romantic."

"You and I have very different definitions of romantic Barry."

"Yeah, well this morning cannot get any better."

- **bzzzzzzzzz…bzzzzzzzzz-** Barry's phone began to vibrate.

"Ugh… Just once can my phone not go off before eight?" Barry just wanted to turn it off and spend the entire day in bed with Caitlin. Here he was safe, warm and above all happy.

Caitlin sat up in bed turning to her boyfriend propping her elbows on her knees. "You better get that it is probably important." With a smile Caitlin stretched and got out of bed.

"Where do you think you're going?" Barry asked catching her wrist.

"I'm going to take a shower."

"Sounds like fun, mind if I join you?"

Caitlin smiled. "I think it might be for the best if we did not. Otherwise I think we might end up doing something we regret."

"We already have a kid in the next room, what could happen?"

Caitlin rolled her eyes. "I don't know about you but I am not all that eager on having a human growing inside me at this moment. You should get to work Barry. Don't want to break your streak now do you Barry?"

"As you wish Dr. Snow." Barry gave her a smile before getting ready to go to work.

* * *

 **Iron Heights Prison**

 **8:43 AM**

Recently Barry felt like he was being called into a brand-new crime scene everyday if not once a week. Thanks to having both Caitlin and Ben around Barry had started to develop the habit of actually being on time once in a while. Normally going to crime scenes did not bug him as it was a reminder that he still had a day job even though each one meant he and the rest of the team were too slow. But this time he could not hide any of the expressions his face was displaying. Iron Heights harbored a plethora of different emotions for Barry; guilt, sadness, and anger just to name a few. He walked past dozens of injured prison guards only catching the words of a single one.

"We heard the alarm and moved to investigate then BOOM! A man in a black suit came out of nowhere threw us around like ragdolls… I have no idea how any of us are still alive…"

"Can you describe this man?" Barry noticed Eddie was the detective interviewing the victims.

The guard shook his head. "I… I don't know… it all happened so fast… one minute there was nothing then suddenly this man with a flaming skull clad all in black was there…"

"Okay… thank you." Eddie thanked the injured guard before joining Barry.

"So, this flaming skull speedster, is that the Speed Demon everyone was talking about?" Eddie asked his brother-in-law.

"Sounds like it. Caitlin and I only saw him once and that was a brief second when he tried to kill Ben."

"Yeah, back when I was wearing that anklet that suppressed my powers. I honestly would be dead if Barry hadn't saved me." Ben joined his dad and uncle as they made their way to the murder scene.

Needless to say, when they arrived at the cells of Dawn and Don West-Allen they were met with the horrific smell of charred flesh.

"My god…" The three speedsters laid their eyes upon the melted cells and the scorched skeletons of the Tempest Twins.

Barry could not believe what he was seeing as he read the literal writing on the wall, written in the blood of his children from an alternate reality's possible future. It unnerved him a little. He turned to Joe who gave him a shrug so Barry turned to Ben. The young time traveler was staring at the bloody message he could not tear his eyes away. How could six little words affect a person like this?

 **THE DEVIL IS COMING FOR YOU**

'The Devil Is Coming for you?' What do you suppose that means?" Joe asked his son and future Grandson.

"It's a threat… from Speed Demon." Ben said quietly. "He's aiming it at me. Calling me out."

"Why would he be calling you out?"

"Because he wants to end this." Ben said "Speed Demon wants this feud between the two of us to end as much as I do, but the only way he will accept it ending is if he kills me." Ben abruptly turned around and began to march to the prison's exit until Barry caught up with him pulling him to the side.

"How can you possibly know this is aimed at you? Isn't there a chance this is aimed at Godspeed? You know" Barry looked to make sure no one heard the next words. "Don and Dawn worked for Godspeed, as did XLR8."

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?"

"Speed Demon want's a fight, I'll give him one." Ben said firmly. "I know they were evil but no one deserves to die. The Tempest Twins, XLR8 and countless other speedsters didn't deserve to have their speed and lives taken from them! I won't let the monster I created ruin anymore lives! Hell, who's to say he won't go after you and Caitlin to get to me?"

Hearing his son's determination Barry could not help but feel prideful but also sad at how easily Ben was willing to give his own life for those that he loved. "Ben…please don't do anything reckless. We'll find a way to stop Speed Demon together."

"Allen! Heart!" Barry and Ben turned to see Julian. "The Captain is calling us."

"Can our forensics team determine exactly what happened?" Captain Singh asked Barry and Julian

Julian looked up from the charred skeleton of what must have been the meta-human Overload. "Time of death will be difficult to determine, but camera footage cut out at Nine Thirty last night. So perhaps Time of Death is around the same time." Julian said which caught Barry's attention. "I honestly cannot make a definitive judgement without more evidence."

Time of death was around the same time Ben went missing and supposedly blacked out and according to Caitlin she found Ben with blood on his hands. Barry turned to his future son, this was far too large of a coincidence for him to just accept and it would not be the first time they've seen a speedster be in two places at once.

"Excuse me Captain, I would like to have a word with Detective Heart." Barry asked his boss and once he got the approval he walked over to Ben. Barry made sure he and his son were out of ear shot of the rest of the force before continuing. "Ben, can we talk?"

"There's nothing to talk about Barry." Ben brushed aside his father's plea. "Speed Demon is calling me out. It's time I stopped running away."

"That's exactly what I want to talk to you about. Look… this probably sounds crazy to you and it is probably not true but we have seen some pretty messed up things in my tenue as The Flash."

Ben sighed and turned to his father. "What are you trying to say exactly?"

"I know you're more concerned about what Godspeed has planned for your mother and I, but I cannot help but feel like Speed Demon is the bigger threat. From what we know Godspeed will be beaten, you said so yourself."

"Barry, I never said that. I have no idea how you stopped Godspeed or even if you did." Barry was quite surprised. "And these blackouts are making it really difficult for me to remember what is supposed to happen. Especially when to conflicting images meld together and I cannot what's real."

"How long have you been having these blackouts?" Barry asked seriously concerned for his son. Last year he and the team had come across multiple meta-humans who experienced blackouts whenever their powers kicked in. Could his son be experiencing repercussions from Flashpoint? Was that even possible? Sure, there was a chance that Ben could have been born in Flashpoint given how things were progressing in that altered timeline, but Barry reset the timeline before he should have been conceived, unless he already was.

"Ever since the fight with the tempest twins." Ben explained. He was sure Caitlin had told Barry that, though maybe she did not. "When I entered the storm, I saw…" images of Godspeed flashed across his vision. "I saw Godspeed…" Ben's eyes widened with realization. "I think he did something to me in that storm!"

"Whoa slowdown Ben, that's quite the jump, don't you think?"

Ben shook his head. "I don't think so. I think Godspeed hit me with a lightning bolt and that is why I am now having blackouts."

"Ben, calm down."

"I AM CALM!" Ben screamed. "GODSPEED AND SPEED DEMON HAVE BEEN MESSING WITH ALL OF US FOR TOO LONG! AND NOW THAT I'M WILLING TO MAN UP AND TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE MONSTER I CREATED YOU'RE TRYING TO STOP ME!"

"I am not trying to stop you!" The Flash fired back. "I want to take these two bastards down as much as you do! But to do that You need your head screwed on straight!" Barry placed a firm hand on his son's shoulder. "Please… I need you at full capacity if we want to protect Caitlin from Godspeed."

"I… I just want to know what's wrong with me Barry…" Ben could hardly hold back the tears in his eyes as Barry pulled him into a tighter embrace.

"I promise Ben, we'll find out what's happening to you and reverse it.

* * *

 **Central City Picture News**

 **9:20 AM**

Iris sat at her computer writing her story regarding the local speedsters saving the city from the Tempest Twins.

 _Flash Family Saves City from Devastating Storm_

 _Iris West-Thawne_

 _On the coat tails of what was an unusual weather phenomenon The Flash Family arrived on scene to thwart the devastation caused by a pair of villains known as The Tempest Twins…_

Iris leaned back in her chair and thought back to yesterday where, against the judgement of Eddie, Barry and her father she went to talk with the so-called Tempest Twins.

* * *

 _ **Iron Heights Prison**_

 _ **Yesterday 3:27 PM**_

 _Iris strode confidently into Iron Heights Prison. She was on a mission to uncover the truth and inform the people about the Truth. No one knew she was here, she had to go through several lengths to ditch her two shadows named Derick and Daphne North. They were quite charming but good god they did not leave her alone._

 _"Welcome Mrs. Thawne." The guard gave her a little tip of his hat._

 _Iris nodded as she placed her phone, watch and jewelry into the tray before walking through the metal detector. "Thank you."_

 _She retrieved her phone but nothing else as the guard led her through to the Meta-Human ward. They traveled silently down the halls walking past the cells of the prison containing the super powered individuals of the Flash's Rouges Gallery; including Mark Mardon aka Weather Wizard, Joey Monteleone aka Tar Pit, Sam Scudder the Mirror Master and his girlfriend Rosa Dillon also known as the Top._

 _Iris ignored all the taunts and jeers she got as she was led down the hall into a specially designed interview room, one that would allow someone to interact with Meta-Human Inmates while they were depowered and keep said person fairly unknown._

 _Iris sat in the metal chair a dark shadow cast across her face as she looked through the one-way glass to watch The Tempest Twins being led into the room restrained via meta-human cuffs and for the first-time Iris got a good look at her children form an alternate reality._

 _Dawn was a beautiful young woman despite being a psychopath. She looked remarkably like Iris to the point they could have been mistaken for sisters much in the same way Ben was a dead ringer for Barry. Her shoulder length black hair was pulled up in a ponytail with only a few strands left free to frame her face. She wore a white muscle shirt instead of the usual prison garb and Iris saw the tattoo covering her left arm, it was of a large destructive tornado tearing apart a city._

 _Don was much gruffer than his sister. His face definitely had the same structure as Barry but with darker skin, shaggy black hair and deep brown eyes. Like his sister, he also wore a white undershirt which exposed a large tattoo, consisting of dozens of large lightning bolts obliterating a city, running down his right arm._

 _"So, to what do we owe this pleasure?" Dawn asked._

 _"I'm a reporter for Central City Picture News." Iris said through the voice modulator. "The people of Central City have the right to know why you were trying to destroy the City."_

 _"The people have the right to know? Or you want to know?" Don asked cocking his eyebrow. Iris visibly stiffened despite them being unable to see her through the glass window. "It's fairly obvious you have ties to The Flash and his cohorts. Godspeed gave us a rundown on his team."_

 _"You know Godspeed? Then tell us everything you know about him."_

 _Dawn leaned back as far as she could. "Why? Why should we help you? I thought you were just some reporter."_

 _"Why would we betray the man who promised us vengeance against the thing that murdered our father and the bitch who took everything from us?"_

 _"Because you've terrorized this city! The least you could do is help the Flash save it! Isn't that what your parents would want?" Iris tried appealing to their better nature. If they were truly Her and Barry's children, then why were they like this? All twisted and evil._

 _Don got angry lunging as far forward as his restraints would allow, making iris jump back slightly. "What our parents want? You know nothing about what our parents want! It was thanks to our parents we owned our city! No one would challenge our family!"_

 _"Why not tell me your story." Iris said leaning forward though they could not see. Just what happened in their reality? Harry had warned them two years ago, about allowing knowledge of other earths and possible futures form influencing their lives, but this was where human curiosity became a bitch. She just had to know._

 _"You want to know our story?" Dawn asked smirked. "Then I'll tell you, A long time ago…"_

* * *

 _ **CCPN**_

 _ **Present Time**_

 _Things may appear to get darker in time but we cannot give in, the days get brighter after the darkest night. So long as the Flash Family is around Central City shall always have a bright future no matter what manner of Meta-Human arrives on our doorstep._

Iris leaned back and re-read her article. In her opinion it was not her best work, perhaps an interview with Ben would prove more hopeful than getting stories from Barry or Eddie. Most of the time she did not need to interview them considering she didn't want to be known as The Flash Family's PR rep, not that it was a bad thing.

"Iris!" Iris was snapped out of her thoughts by Scott standing behind her. "How's your article coming?"

Iris turned to her editor. "I've finished it she said."

"That's good but I want you on a different story."

Annoyance flashed across Iris' face. She had spent yesterday and this morning writing this story and Scott was basically telling her he wasn't going to run with it. "With all due respect, Scott, you put me on this assignment so I will be seeing it through."

"Normally I'd agree with you but I want you on the double homicide at Iron Heights."

"Double homicide?" Iris asked

"I'm asking you because it's supposedly tied to the Flash. Rumor is he broke into the prison and murdered two inmates."

"That's impossible! The Flash would never do something like that!"

"We don't write opinion pieces Iris. Get out there and prove that he did not do it." Scott said simply. "And let the people know the true about what is happening around this city. If it wasn't the Flash who could have murdered those two inmates? I want this done by tonight so we can print within twenty-four hours."

Iris got up from her desk and grabbed her purse. She needed to check with her dad, Barry and Eddie about what happened at Iron Heights. Sure they were not at liberty to discuss an open police investigation but Iris could be persistent.

"Iris!" She was about to get in her car when she heard her voice. Looking over her shoulder she saw her two shadows jogging to catch up with her.

"Oh, good morning Daphne, Derrick." She greeted the two interns. "Can I help you?"

"Uh… maybe. Are you off to write that story Scott was talking about?" Daphne asked

"I am, but first I need to go visit the Police Department."

"That's fine we'll go with you." Derrick offered. "I'm sure you could use the help."

Iris offered the twins a smile. "That's kind of you but I'll be on this story later. I'm off to have a chat with my brother." That ought to through them off her trail since they shouldn't know if she was talking about Wally or Barry, besides she needed to swing by STAR Labs, undoubtedly the team was gathered there to discuss this event if it was a Meta-Human capable of moving as fast as The Flash.

* * *

 **S.T.A.R. Labs, Cortex**

 **11:20 AM**

The entirety of Team Flash had gathered in the cortex while on of the monitors displayed Speed Demon's grizzly message for all of them to see.

"'The Devil is coming for you?' Seems like this guy is fairly 'Hail Satan' oriented." Cisco joked.

"Not really a good joke Cisco." Ben said folding his arms across his chest. "Last year you all fought the self-proclaimed God of Speed, Savitar, this year not only are we dealing with Godspeed, a man whose goals are completely unknown to us, we are dealing with what speedsters can and should equivalate to the actual Devil."

"Right, so what do we know about him?" Barry asked. "Aside from his habit of murdering and draining speedsters of their lives and speed."

"Well, we also know he's tethered to my original time." Ben explained. "He cannot be in this time for that long."

"So, we just keep him stuck here and that should solve our problem?" Kid Flash asked.

"That seems like an option, does anyone here know how to build a device that can sever his connection to the Speed Force?"

"Well…" Everyone turned to Caitlin as she spoke up. "What if we use Velocity 9 on him?" Barry looked at Caitlin completely stunned. "It can disrupt and even destroy his connection to the Speed Force as it did with Jay…I mean Zoom."

"Cait… what happened to being a physician who cannot in good conscience give Velocity 9 to anyone?"

"I… I was just thinking out loud…" Caitlin looked down at her feet suddenly finding them the most interesting thing in the world.

"Either way, I don't think that will work since he can just absorb the speed of another speedster to cure himself from the detrimental effects of V9."

"What about Harry's speed stealing device?" Cisco asked "What if we somehow get that on him and then force him to run until there's no Speed Force left in his system?"

"Getting it on him is one challenge, keeping it on him is a whole other mess." Barry said.

"Is there really nothing we can do to stop him before he kills any more people?" Joe was far more concerned with the potential loss of life Speed Demon brought to the table, so far, his body count was at three with the potential to include, his sons, Caitlin, his son-in-law and his future grandson, Joe would be damned if he lost a large chunk of his family.

"What if maybe we open a breach to Earth-2." Wally spoke up.

"Why? You want to see your girlfriend?" Iris teased her brother.

Wally's face flushed red with embracement. "What? No! I just… well I was thinking maybe we could use Harry and Jesse's help with everything that's going on."

"Sure Wally." The young engineer smirked in a mocking tone. Yes, he was going to open a breach but it was not for Wally's 'reason' it was because Wall most definitely just wanted to see Jessie again. "We could use Harry and Jesse's help."

"Well, that's a start… get on that Cisco." Barry said. "While you're doing that maybe we sent word to Oliver and company…" Barry paused and there were some snickers. "I know what I said… I heard it as it came out."

Caitlin hid a chuckle. "Don't worry we won't tell Oliver."

"Right… Before that little interruption… I was going to say maybe we should also get Jay and Kara to help us." Barry continued. "Having them would be a big help."

"Wow… we're really thinking about bringing in twenty-five heroes to fight one man?" Eddie inquired. "Seems a little much don't you think?"

Ben shook his head. "Honestly I have no idea if twenty-five heroes is going to be enough. Speed Demon fought and killed many powerful heroes and this was after The Fall. I don't even know how many of my friends are still alive."

"Alright here's how it's going to work." Barry took charge of the group and began to divvy them up. "Cisco, Wally, you two, work on opening those breaches and contacting Jesse, Harry, Jay and Kara." Wally and Cisco nodded before they made their way down to the breach room." Iris can you get a message to Team Arrow?"

"I'm sure I can. I've got Felicity's number right here and I am sure they'll be over as fast as they can.

"Good. Now all we need to do is somehow get a message to a ragtag team of misfits aboard a Time Ship surfing the space time continuum. Thoughts?"

"Why don't we do what we did last time?" Eddie asked. "Besides it's a time machine, how could they possibly be late?"

"You think you can contact them Eddie?"

"Well I can do my best." Cobalt blue said before heading off to contact the time traveling misfits.

"And then there were four…" Ben mumbled as he, his parents and Joe were the only ones left in the room.

"What are you three going to be doing while everyone else gather's our forces?" Joe asked

"We are going to be helping Ben with his blackouts." Caitlin said taking her place beside her future son.

"Blackouts? Ben's having blackouts? Why?"

"That's what we're hoping to find out and hopefully we'll find a way to stop them before we have to face either Godspeed or Speed Demon." Barry said while turning to Ben. In truth Barry wanted to be sure that when Ben blacked out he wasn't developing a split personality because of Flashpoint, but he could not have Ben knowing that. It would crush him if Barry's hunch turned out to be true.

* * *

This is the end of the chapter

Please tell me what you liked, didn't like, look forward to/think will happen, or your general thoughts and comments, this will help me make the story better; I'm a big boy so I can take criticism. And if you Review you get a Shout Out and questions answered either privately or in the next chapter.

 **SEVEN REVIEWS, FAVORITES OR FOLLOWS AND I'LL TRY TO UPDATE IN A WEEK. EVERY TWO OVER THAT AND I'LL DO ONE DAY SOONER.**

 **(i.e. 9 R/F/F = 6-day update)**

Have a Fantastic day


	9. Ben's Blackouts

**Disclaimer:** The following is a nonprofit Fan based story; The FLASH and all related characters are owned by DC comics, the CW and anyone I may have missed.

Like I always seem to say to the point of redundancy (doesn't mean it's any less true) I love everyone who Reviews, Favorites and or Follows any of my stories. Again, if I didn't respond I apologize and just let me know.

Reviews: **Master Skywalker 121, changingdestiny40, AReiss215, josephguy217, snowcaitlin, HulkVahkiin** and **Guest**

 **Guest:** I am glad you are excited to see these heroes gather

Favorites: **snowcaitlin**

Followers: **snowcaitlin** and **doloresdadd**

I will say that I am not one hundred percent pleased with this chapter, if felt sloppy and all over the place mainly because I was setting up several plot lines but hopefully it is clear enough for all of you.

Okay once more I thank you all for showing interest in this story. That is seriously my motivation to continue, that and how this story ends.

* * *

 _The Flash: Survival of the Fastest_

Chapter 8: Ben's Blackouts

* * *

 **Godspeed's Lair**

Godspeed sat in his lair looking at his mask while his face was obscured by shadows. Speed Demon had left him a message at the cost of the Tempest Twin's lives. He cared little for the Tempest twins, sure he had saved them from Frost, but that was after he had murdered their Earth's Barry Allen for what he did to her.

"My Lord Godspeed!" Godspeed immediately put on his cowl and turned around to be met with the blinding light of his most devout soldiers. The white clad speedster could barely make out the man's figure at times because on the dazzling light. "I must advise against this. Allow me to deal with the Heretic Speed Demon!"

" _ **That will not be necessary."**_ Godspeed said. "The only thing _**Speed Demon cares about more that killing me is his precious Time Line and killing me will disrupt it. And I believe I told you not to call me 'My Lord' I know on your Earth Speedsters are revered as Gods but that does not make me one."**_

"Your humility knows no bounds, my lord." Godspeed smiled beneath his mask as his follower vanished in a flash of yellow light.

"I hate to say it but I agree with him." Godspeed turned to see his right-hand woman. "You going out to face Speed Demon could only mean disaster. He will kill you."

" _ **Speed Demon will not kill me, everything I have ever done to him has been for his own good and still he insists on this rebellious streak."**_

"To be fair, you did murder his mentor. You know, the one he developed a sort of father-son bond with."

" _ **That man turned Speed Demon against me, against all of us**_!"

"I am sorry, I know how… touchy… this subject is for you."

" _ **Whatever, how're our friends in Star City?"**_

"The Green Arrow and his team will no longer be a problem. I've dealt with them." Godspeed smirked beneath his mask.

" _ **Good. Now excuse me Olvida, I have an errand to run before my meeting with Speed Demon."**_ Godspeed took off at fantastic speeds leaving Olvida behind.

* * *

 **Earth-2 Central City S.T.A.R. Labs**

A blue portal opened in the middle of STAR Labs and out came a stream of yellow lightning holding Vibe.

"Alright, we made it." Wally said happily.

Cisco doubled over trying to quell his stomach. "Damn… I will never get used to that…"

"Who's there?" Cisco and Wally looked up to see good old Harry aiming a plasma rifle at them.

"Hey Harry." Wally waved.

Harry lowered his rifle. "Oh great… it's you two… tell me, what kind of trouble has Allen gotten himself into this time?"

Cisco shook his head. "You would not believe me if I told you… which is why we need you and Jesse."

Wells opened up some kind of wrist communicator. "Jesse, come on down to the Breach Room, we have guests."

There was a flash of yellow lightning and Jesse was suddenly in the room giving both Cisco and Wally hugs. "Hey guys!" She said happily.

"Hey Jesse" Wally blushed a little before noting the dirty look Harry was giving him. "Uh look, I… uh we… need your help."

"With what?"

"Oh, just the yearly psychopathic speedster hunting Barry's ass." Cisco surmised. "You know, the usual."

"Yeah, I'd be happy to help you guys out!" Jesse said happily.

"Great!" Cisco clapped his hands together. "You coming Harry?"

"Of course, I am. You think I'm going to leave my daughter alone with you two, especially young West over here think again."

"Um, hello. I'm right here." Wally argued.

"Great, now hold on to your lunches, we have two more stops to make before we return to Earth Prime." Cisco began to concentrate and open a new breach.

"Earth-Prime? Since when is that a thing?" Wells asked

"Since Jay told us our Earth is the center of the Multiverse. Ergo Earth-Prime."

* * *

 **Earth-Prime S.T.A.R. Labs Caitlin's Lab**

While the rest of the team was gathering their forces Barry, Caitlin and Ben were in Caitlin's lab. Ben sat in a machine with his head hooked up to dozens of wires.

"You sure you want to do this?" Caitlin asked. "There are other ways."

"No. I have to do this." Ben said "I have to know why I am blacking out. And I want it to stop."

Caitlin did not like this plan at all, but she went along with it because Ben had inherited his father's pigheadedness. "Ok… But I am not fine with this for the record."

"Alright, are you ready Ben?" Barry asked as he finished strapping his son into the chair.

Ben opened his mouth and Barry inserted a mouth guard to prevent Ben from biting his tongue

"We're ready in Three… two… one…" Caitlin slowly counted down before turning the machine on. Amongst the three of them Caitlin was against this plan.

Ben grunted in pain as a small electrical charge surged through his body. He felt pain and began to drift into a memory and his body went limp.

Caitlin and Barry watched Ben go limp and Dr. Snow immediately made a move to check on her son but Barry held her back. "No, wait Cait! Please… we have to see this through." Ben began to convulse against his restraints. Seeing him struggle hurt Caitlin emotionally.

"Barry, I can't stand idly by and watch him suffer like this!"

"I know Cait, but please Ben is strong. He'll get through this. And no matter what happens in his mind, we will be there for him." Barry gently rubber her arm calming her down.

* * *

 _ **November 21, 2020**_

 _When Ben opened his eyes, he was lost in a memory, one where he was a little kid. He looked to be about five years old which meant he was actually two._

 _"Ben" Ben turned around to see His dad standing in the doorway._

 _"DADDY!" Little Ben ran across the room at high speed and embraced his father in a tight hug. "I missed you!"_

 _"I missed you too Best buddy." Barry wrapped his arms around his tiny son. "But I want to know, how could you miss me? I've only been gone for what? Ten minutes?"_

 _"It felt like forever!"_

 _"Barry? Are you home?" Ben and Barry turned towards the stairs to see Caitlin slowly making her way down them, right hand on the railing while her left rested on her slightly swollen belly._

 _"Hey Cait." Barry picked up Ben and went over to his wife taking her right hand and guiding her down the rest of the steps before embracing her._

 _"So, how was your day?" Caitlin asked her husband._

 _"Oh, you know. It was OK. Got a lot better once I got home."_

 _"Mommy, when's my little brother going to be here?" Ben asked tugging on her sleeve._

 _Caitlin gave her baby boy a curious look before smiling. "How do you know it will be a boy?"_

 _Ben smiled brightly. "I just know!"_

 _"Well, maybe it'll be a little girl, and you will have a baby sister instead." Barry teased._

 _Ben pouted and shook his head. "Nope! Baby brother!"_

 _Ben's world began to blur and shift and soon he was lost in a new memory, one that he did not recognize._

 _In this new dream he was running around what must have been Central City. Yellow lightning cascaded off of him as he ran around the city. One thing Ben noticed was that he was not the only Speedster running around. There were dozens of other speedsters running around each one of them had a different color of lightning. Some had red, some had blue, other still had pink, green, and even other thing he noticed what the white suit he was wearing, it was very different than the suit he usually wore. It was almost exactly like his father's except it was white. It was spooky similar to Godspeed's suit, though there were differences._

 _One speedster came up next to him cloaked in red lightning. "R... run..." He whispered before screaming in agony. Ben looked over his shoulder to see Speed Demon driving a large scythe through his body._

 _The Black speedster was billowing crimson flames and black lightning. He seemed to relish in the murder of another speedster as he absorbed his Speed Force._

 _"NO!" Ben screamed as he took a swipe at Speed Demon._

 _The Black speedster moved out of the way easily and grabbed Ben by the throat. Out of the corner of his eye Ben noticed a large screen with a news report. He cared little about the information, instead he focused on the date._

* * *

 _ **May 12 2030**_

 _"Why do you hate me?" Ben yelled at the monster. "We could have been partners! Heroes even! Even better than my dad!"_

 _Speed Demon charged Ben with remarkable speed forcing the young Flash to move out of the way and initiate a chase between the two of them. Their fight was fast and brutal with Ben able to bring Speed Demon to his knees for the first time ever. Ben thrust a vibrating hand towards Speed Demon's stomach piercing through him. The black speedster grabbed Ben's wrist tightly holding the hand firmly in place in his stomach as crimson lightning formed a blade around his right hand. Ben's eye widened in horror as Speed Demon swung his arm down._

 _Ben roared in pain, both in his dream and in reality, as Speed Demon sliced his right arm off. The Young speedster collapsed to his knees Blood poured from the remaining stump halfway down his bicep._

 _"Go ahead… kill me…" Ben groaned_

 _Speed Demon stood over him stalking him like a predator before crouching to his level. He clutched Ben's face with a clawed glove. Ben mustered up some strength and spat blood into Speed Demon's flaming face. it sizzled and boiled on contact but otherwise showed no indication that it affected him._

 _"You'll never win… This city will never turn against me… They will never flock to you."_

* * *

 **Present Time**

Barry and Caitlin watched as Ben dreamed and convulsed before screaming. They did whatever they could to minimalize the quasi-seizures until suddenly Ben went completely still and quiet.

"Is he…?" Caitlin started to ask but she was suddenly cut off by a yelp when Ben jolted awake and gasped for air startling Barry and Caitlin.

The young speedster's left arm shot to his right bicep just feeling the other arm to make sure what he saw wasn't real. "Ben!" Immediately they started to unhook him from the machine.

"Are you OK? What did you see? Do you remember anything?" Caitlin was firing off questions at a mile a minute.

Ben looked from his mother to his father before shaking his head. "Nothing… can't remember anything…"

"What do you mean you can't remember anything?" Barry asked.

"I mean I remember my life up to 2024, but the next five years are mostly a blur. I can't remember anything between 2024 and 2029 before Speed Demon arrived!" Ben buried his head in his hands out of frustration. Something was wrong with his mind, removing his memories of the last five years of his life and there was nothing he nor his parents could do about it.

"There is one thing I'm trying to figure out but I can't…"

"What is it?" Barry asked

Ben said clutching his head. "I remember him killing you, mom…" Caitlin's brown eyes widened slightly. Last she heard, they all had a wonderful life and here he was telling her that she was going to be murdered.

"I… I'm going to be murdered?" Caitlin asked terrified.

"I don't know Caitlin… Half my brain is saying we live a long happy life and the other is saying you die shortly after I am born." Caitlin felt Barry's hand intertwin with her own giving her some form of comfort.

"Who kills Caitlin in your memories?" Barry asked on behalf of his girlfriend.

"I don't know… I can't remember his face or even his name! For all I know 'he' might actually be a 'she!' There's still the possibility that I could be wrong about her whole murder." Ben punched the wall in frustration. "There's the chance that Godspeed might just steal your speed Caitlin and we all end up living that happy life! But that does not explain why Speed Demon thinks I killed his brother!" Ben slid to his knees clutching his fist as Barry and Caitlin slid onto the floor next to him.

This ordeal with both Speed Demon and Godspeed was going to be excruciatingly difficult on all of them. Barry turned to Caitlin, looking deeply into her eyes.

"Don't worry Ben… No body's going to hurt Caitlin. I promise you. I will not let anyone harm her.

"And I won't lose my speed to Godspeed." Caitlin gently rubbed her hand in circles on Ben's back. "Nothing will ever tear us apart."

* * *

 **Earth-3 Central City**

In the Earth-3 version of Central City Jay Garrick was running around protecting the civilians of his beloved city. Right now, he was off to the park to stop one of his more persistent enemies Thorn.

The woman before him, Rhosyn 'Rose' Forrest, held out her arms and large tendrils of vines covered in thorns erupted from the ground. Thrusting them forward the vines tried to skewer the older Flash but the man in the helmet easily maneuvered around the vines. "How many times are we going to do this dance Flash?"

"Until you stop breaking out of Prison Rose." Jay said taking the helmet off his head. He wound up and threw his helmet like a Frisbee or rather a flying Buzzsaw. The helmet, almost like it had a mind of its own sliced through the vines before Jay caught it harmlessly in his hand.

Thorn was about to unleash another when she was thrown aside by streaks of yellow lightning. The evil meta-human looked up to see two young speedsters standing between her and the Flash.

She looked past them to Jay and chuckled. "I didn't know it was 'Take Your Kids to Work Day'. Tell me who are you two supposed to be?"

"Name's Kid Flash."

"And I'm Jesse Quick."

"Cute" Thorn mocked "The more for me to-" She was suddenly cut off by Jay scooping her up and slapping a pair of power dampening cuffs on her before zooming her into the back of a nearby police cruiser.

"I had this under control." Jay said to the two younger speedsters. If he were being honest he liked these two a lot more than he liked Barry. The Flash of Earth-1, despite all of his heroics, made a lot of mistakes and abused his powers.

"We know." Wally said. "We're just here because we need your help."

"What is it this time?" Jay asked. "Has Barry managed to tick off another Deity?"

"Well… It's more like the Devil." Jesse said.

* * *

 **Earth-Prime Star City Mayor's Office**

Mayor Oliver Queen sat at his desk doing his usual business of running his city when his phone rang.

" _Mr. Mayor, I have a call incoming from an Iris West-Thawne. She said she has urgent business to discuss with you."_ Oliver looked up slightly confused.

"Uh OK, put her through."

" _Oliver, Hi!"_ Iris' peppiness caught him off guard.

"Hello Mrs. West-Thawne, what can the mayor of Star City do for you today?"

"Uh… _Oliver, I told you before you can call me Iris. But this is about Barry, Oliver. He needs your help."_

Oliver took in a breath. "Uh, who's Barry?" he asked.

" _Oliver, this isn't funny. We need your help here in Central City."_

"Look Mrs. West-Thawne-"

"Look Iris, I don't know who you are or what you are trying to pull, but I am a very busy man. I'm sorry but I cannot help you."

"Oliver wait-" Oliver hung up the phone and ran a hand through his short hair. Just who was that woman who called him? Who was this Barry?

" _Sir, your wife is on line one."_ His secretary said.

"Thank you, Felicity, I'll take the call right now." Oliver smiled as he picked up the phone. "Laurel, how's my beautiful wife doing today?"

* * *

 **Central City Iris and Eddie's Home**

Iris just stared at her phone completely dumbfounded. First when she called Felicity the blond IT girl acted like she hadn't the foggiest clue who she was so she asked to be patched through to Oliver. Much to her shock he also acted like he didn't know who either her or Barry were.

"You OK Iris?" Eddie asked his wife.

"I just talked to Oliver and Felicity… they acted like they had no clue who any of us are."

"What? What do you mean?"

"I mean it was strange, like they never met us in the first place." Iris ran a hand through her hair. What the hell was going? "We have to tell Barry. Something is happening in Star City."

"OK… we'll tell the rest of the team that something's happening. They have to know. I sent out the message."

"Did Sara and the rest of them get it?"

"Only time will tell if the Legends get it or not."

* * *

 **S.T.A.R. Labs, Caitlin's Lab**

Diving back into his labyrinth of memories Ben searched for anything that may give him a clue about the five years of his life that have been obscured. When he first arrived in this time he could still remember those events, but now they were fading, some of them were being replaced by memories he didn't recognize others just faded into the nothingness.

Sweat poured down his forehead as he came out of another memory.

"Ben… please you have to stop…" Caitlin pleaded.

"No…" Ben vigorously shook his head. "My memories are fading… I need to know why…"

"Ben!" Ben looked to Barry. "Stop… we're accomplishing nothing."

"Do you even know what this is like Dad?" Ben screamed. "Do you know what it's like to have your life systematically erased and replaced with something you've never experienced? Up until yesterday I was completely fine but within twenty-four hours I have lost about five years' worth of memories!"

"Actually, I do know what it's like to lose memories." Barry said calmly getting both Ben and Caitlin's attention. Barry then realized he never quite told anyone his reasoning for resetting Flashpoint.

"A little over a year ago, I went back in time and saved my mother from being murdered." Barry leaned against Caitlin's desk. "For three months, I lived in a fantasy world where both my parents were alive, but it wasn't the life I wanted." Barry turned to Caitlin. "Eventually I began to lose my memories of my original timeline. Before I could completely forget about who I was I…" Barry paused and Ben noticed the lump in his throat. Barry desperately trying to hold back his sadness. "I had to let my worst enemy murder my mother all over again…"

Caitlin was quite surprised. Barry had never really gone into details about Flashpoint, mainly because none of them wanted to know, but she had figured that the only way to undo Flashpoint was to let Nora die again.

"So, you're saying I'm losing my memories because I'm changing my own timeline?" Ben asked.

"I'm saying, you may be losing them because of me."

Ben actually chuckled a little. "Really? You're the reason my memories are all bombyliid? Wouldn't I have had to exist in Flashpoint to be affected as such?"

Barry turned from Ben and looked into Caitlin's eyes. "The thing is Ben… I think you did exist in Flashpoint." Ben followed Barry's gaze to Caitlin.

"You mean…" Caitlin couldn't bring herself to finish her sentence. "We might have been…"

"I won't say it unless you're absolutely sure…" Barry knew of the repercussions of telling people about their Flashpoint lives, heck or even telling them of their pre-Flashpoint lives. "I don't even know if it is true myself…"

Caitlin wiped away a stray tear she didn't know was there. "It's ok Barry…"

"My Flashpoint self… prior to me 'waking up'… he… he made mistakes… I think… before I reset the timeline… you were already there… And now, as a consequence of the choice I made… you're experiencing a life you shouldn't be experiencing."

Ben gripped the edge of the nearest table before turning to Barry. "I don't want to have this 'Other Life' in this other life I am being tortured and mutilated… I don't want it."

* * *

 **Earth-38 National City**

While Jesse and Wally were off recruiting Jay Cisco and Harry made their way to Earth-38, the home of Supergirl, Superman Martian Manhunter, Miss Martian, Mon El, and Guardian.

"Alright, where are we Cisco?" Harry asked as he observed their surroundings. It was a quaint apartment, brightly colored.

"Earth-38" Cisco said. "We're here to pick up-" They both immediately turned when they heard the door click and open.

"Honestly Alex I am super happy for you and Maggie. You guys are perfect for each other."

"I know… Maggie makes me feel-" Alex then noticed the two men standing in Kara's living room.

"Cisco! And H.R!" Kara said happily as she hugged Cisco.

"I'm not that idiot H.R., I'm Wells." Harry said. Kara offered her hand for him to shake but Harry just ignored it and just adjusted the plasma rifle on his shoulder.

Right… so Alex, this is my friend Cisco, he's from another Earth. The same one that Barry is from."

Alex gave cisco a smile as she shook his hand. "Nice to meet you."

"So, uh what can we do for you? Is Barry in trouble? Is Caitlin?"

"What? Uh, no… it's kind of a long story."

"Well, we've got time, right?" Kara turned to Alex. "It's not like we have any alien invasions going on right?"

"Oh, don't worry, it's not an alien invasion this time." Cisco said "It'll make more sense if you come with us."

"Uh no way!" They turned to Alex. "I am not letting my sister go to another dimension without backup."

"But Alex~" Kara whined. "They need our help!"

Alex looked at her adoptive sister and sighed in defeat. "I cannot talk you out of this, can I?" Kara shook her head. "Fine, but you are not going alone."

"What? No! No, no, no, no, no! No!" Kara wagged a finger at her adoptive sister. "I am not going to let my adoptive sister jump across dimensions!"

"Really? And what's going to stop me?"

"National City need's you guys to keep it safe while I'm away."

"Then at least let J'onn come with you." Alex argued

"Hey!" The sisters turned to Harry and Cisco. "Sorry, but we are kind of on a Clock here."

"Ugh… fine. Alex Call J'onn. Tell him I could use his help."

* * *

 **Earth-Prime S.T.A.R. Labs Cortex**

Barry, Caitlin and Ben stood in the Cortex waiting for the rest of the team. The three of them just stood in silence, none of them really knowing what to say. The ordeal with Ben diving into his own memories had yielded little to no results in a source for the lapsing memories. The only lead they had was potentially Flashpoint was catching up to Ben, writing over his memories.

Barry made his way over to Ben. He wanted to talk to him but he could not find the right words. He reached out for his son but the universe had other ideas. The alarms went off, drawing their attention to the screen.

"There's a meta-human attack down town. I don't know what it is but it looks like a big one." Caitlin said as she slid into a chair at the main consol.

"Is it another one of Godspeed's speedsters?" Ben asked.

"I don't know." Caitlin replied honestly.

In a flash of red and yellow Barry and Ben were in their suits. "Caitlin, stay here till everyone gets back. Ben, you're with me."

"What? I am going out there with you!" Caitlin fired back.

Barry placed his hand on Caitlin's shoulder. "Cait… this isn't another speedster. Ben and I can handle this ourselves. We still need eyes here covering us while we are out there."

"Fine… go." She ordered and in a flash of yellow lightning Caitlin watched as her two boys ran off to save the city.

"Caitlin?" Almost as soon as they ran out Iris and Eddie had reentered the Cortex. "Where are Barry and Ben going?" Iris asked.

"There's a meta-human causing trouble down town."

"OK… but we have bigger problems than a meta-human attack." Iris said somberly.

"What's wrong? Has something happened in Star City?"

"That is precisely the Problem." Eddie spoke up for his wife. "Oliver and most likely his team, they are acting like they don't know any of us."

* * *

 **Down Town Central City**

Barry and Ben arrived on the scene of a rampaging Meta-Human as the reports said and within moments they had rounded up him up despite how easy it was for them to take him out. The Meta had the ability to produce razor sharp spikes from his body. Barry was pretty sure if Cisco were involved they would be calling him Sea Urchin or maybe even Spike.

"Well, that was easy." Barry said to his son as they stood over the unconscious Meta.

"I don't get it Flash, why are we letting the police cart him away?"

"Because he was abusing his powers." Barry explained. "Look around us. He's damaged a lot of property and hurt several people."

"Still, I think we should run him through the system." Ben pulled out his future computer as Cisco dubbed it and ran a facial recognition on the unconscious man. "He's not in any of my recorded criminal systems."

"Then who is he?"

"Hector Peyote." Ben said. "From New Mexico, member of a traveling Mariachi Band with his friends. Has a wife, no kids oh and get this" Ben showed his dad the file.

"It says he's"

"Not a meta-human." Ben finished.

"OK, so how did a regular human become a meta-human?" Barry asked.

Ben moved in a flash and an instant later he was holding a small test tube of blood. "I have an Idea but we'll have to have Caitlin run some tests on the blood."

With that the two speedsters ran back to S.T.A.R. Labs unaware of the plot they had stumbled upon.

* * *

 **Atop a Skyscraper in Central City**

Later that night, Godspeed stood atop the tallest building in all of the Gem Cities, he had gotten the message alright so here he was, waiting for Speed Demon to come for him.

There was a flash of crimson light and out of a Speed Force Portal jumped Speed Demon.

Slowly Godspeed turned around to gaze upon the Speedster who had been a thorn in his side for a long time. " _ **Hello, little brother.**_ "

Speed Demon said nothing. He held out his right hand and formed a large scythe out of pure Speed Force Energy. The large blade glowed red and for a moment Godspeed saw faces emerge from the mass of energy. Each was composed of the same Speed Force energy but each was screaming in agony, the horrifying thing was that Godspeed recognized several of the faces, they were of members of the Speed Legion, including XLR8 and the Tempest Twins, that Speed Demon killed and absorbed. Readying his scythe, Speed Demon charged Godspeed.

* * *

This is the end of the chapter

Please tell me what you liked, didn't like, look forward to/think will happen, or your general thoughts and comments, this will help me make the story better; I'm a big boy so I can take criticism. And if you Review you get a Shout Out and questions answered either privately or in the next chapter.

 **SEVEN REVIEWS, FAVORITES OR FOLLOWS AND I'LL TRY TO UPDATE IN A WEEK. EVERY TWO OVER THAT AND I'LL DO ONE DAY SOONER.**

 **(i.e. 9 R/F/F = 6-day update)**

Have a Fantastic day


	10. Gods and Demons

**Disclaimer:** The following is a nonprofit Fan based story; The FLASH and all related characters are owned by DC comics, the CW and anyone I may have missed.

Like I always seem to say to the point of redundancy (doesn't mean it's any less true) I love everyone who Reviews, Favorites and or Follows any of my stories. Again, if I didn't respond I apologize and just let me know.

Reviews: **wilsonenmanual43, Master Skywalker 121, AReiss215, changingdestiny40, josephguy217, HulkVahkiin,** and **Guest**

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OK this is a short little chapter here. Covers what I want so that's enough for me. I hope you guys enjoy it.

* * *

 _The Flash: Survival of the Fastest_

Chapter 9: Gods and Demons

* * *

 **S.T.A.R. Labs Breach Room**

Barry, Ben, and Caitlin stood in the Breach room of STAR Labs waiting for Cisco and Wally to returned with some of their reinforcements. They had decided that once this section of the team had been put together they would go to Star City to investigate why Team Arrow does not seem to remember any of them.

The portal opened and out ran Wally and Cisco, followed closely by Jesse and Harry then Jay, Kara, Alex and a man Barry and company did not recognize.

"Back on Earth Prime once again." Cisco smiled as he removed his vibe goggles.

With smiles on everyone's faces they exchanged greetings with one another.

"It's so good to see you again Kara." Caitlin smiled as she embraced Supergirl in a hug.

"Like wise Caitlin." Kara adorned a smile that was brilliant. "Oh, everyone this is my sister Alex." Kara introduced her adoptive sister.

"Hi." Alex waved to the people from the alternate universe.

"Oh, this is J'onn, you guys remember J'onn right." Kara reintroduced the Martian.

"I remember J'onn." J'onn shook Barry's hand. "Right, so," Barry turned to Ben. "Everyone, I'd like to introduce you all to Ben."

"Hi Ben." Jesse immediately reached out to take his hand which Ben happily obliged.

"Hi, I'm Ben." Ben said slightly nervous to be meeting Jay Garrick, his partial namesake and alternate paternal grandfather. "Uh… well… you're all here to help us with a small problem…"

Harry raised his hand interrupting Ben. "First of all, I think all of us here would like to know Who you are and where you come from."

"Right… well…" Ben was a little nervous. Would Jay be upset with him for being a 'reckless time traveler?' "Um… OK first thing you should all know is… I am actually from the future…" Ben watched as everyone's gazes focused on him, especially Jay's. Before the eldest Flash could speak up Ben continued. "And I… I didn't exactly mean to travel to the past and now I'm kind of stuck here."

"So we are here to help bring you back to the Future before you alter the past." Jay said not removing his eyes from Ben.

"That's half right." Ben nervously ran his hands together. "See, All three of you have the speed necessary to help us stop my arch-nemesis his name is-" Alarms suddenly began to blare loudly, signaling meta-human activity.

"We've got a meta-human alert!" Cisco got excited as everyone, powered or not, made their way up to the cortex to investigate the sudden disturbance.

* * *

 **Central City**

Central City seemed absolutely peaceful at night. At least it was peaceful until stream of gold-white lighting tore through the streets followed by a flood of red flames cloaked in black lightning. The two streams of color ran up the sides of buildings and even phased through other structures in a seemingly unending race.

Godspeed ran fast and hard staying several steps ahead of the black clad speedster. They ran so fast they were moving between locations within milliseconds, traversing the entire city two times over in under a minute.

Godspeed glanced over his shoulder at the flaming visage of his shadow. He thought back to the first time they fought and smiled. Back when Speed Demon at his weakest. He remembered running through the streets of Central City dragging Speed Demon's body by a chain around his neck. Debris tore at the other speedster's flesh as he was slowly turned into an unrecognizable mass of flesh and blood. He was confident he killed the other man. Needless to say, he looked quite spry for roadkill.

" _ **Can't catch me little brother**_!"

Speed Demon chased closely behind Godspeed, the man who called him 'Little Brother.' Never has he called Godspeed his brother. He had a big brother but he was murdered by Benjamin Jason Allen. He gripped his energy scythe tightly and swung. Godspeed dodged and Speed Demon's attack sliced a car in half.

" _ **This is so much fun little brother! We should do this more often!"**_

Speed Demon roared like a wild animal as he jumped, closing the gap between the two speedsters. He latched onto the surprised Godspeed's back wrapping his arms around the white speedster's chest and his legs around the man's waist. The sudden change in weight made Godspeed stumble and fall. The black runner released Godspeed and flipped over the tumbling body before grabbing a hold of the back of his neck dragging him across the city. Asphalt and concrete tore into Godspeed's body, through his suit, which was impressive considering what his suit was made of.

* * *

 **S.T.A.R. Labs Cortex**

At S.T.A.R. Labs the readings were going absolutely wild. In the Cortex stood Team Flash plus Jay, Jesse, Harry and the three powerhouses of Team Supergirl.

"What the heck is going on?" Barry asked as he made his way over to Cisco. Two signals were on the screen jumping from one location to the next in the blink of an eye.

"I don't know! Satellites picked up a massive flux of Speed Force Energy and then this started happening!"

"It's two speedsters." Jay said understanding the situation almost immediately. "They're racing. Trying to wrestle the Speed Force from one another."

"Can we get a visual on them?" J'onn asked

"On it!" Cisco typed and pulled up several traffic cams. Unfortunately, they were showing the aftermath. Trails of fire burned the streets adorn with shattered Glass and electrified cars and lampposts.

"Just what the hell is happening out there?" Joe asked surveying the destruction.

Out of everyone Ben looked on in horror. His expression did not go unnoticed by Kara Zor-El. "You notice something don't you?"

"It's nothing." Ben shrugged off her question, knowing exactly what was happening and how dangerous it was.

"Ben," Caitlin moved to talk to her future son with much more calm. "What is it?" Everyone tuned their attention to Ben.

"The lightning…" Ben said. "See the colors?"

"Black and White." Caitlin said.

"There are only two speedsters with those colors for their Lightning. Speed Demon… and Godspeed…"

"Godspeed and Speed Demon are out there? What could they be possibly doing?" Barry asked

"Like Jay said, it looks like they are racing, and its more likely than not they are trying to kill each other."

"Ah, so we finally get to have two villains who do not want to work together, but in the process of trying to kill each other they wreak everything around them." Cisco spun in his chair back to the monitors.

"The question is Who is winning?" Alex asked trying to understanding the gravity of the situation. "I mean if both of these speedsters are as bad as you say then What happens when one kills the other?"

"No matter who wins, This might be our best and only chance to take out both one of them." Ben said. "Speed Demon wants Godspeed dead for some reason, we can use that to our advantage."

"How?" Wally asked.

"By finding them, and letting one of them kill the other. As soon as that happens we all move in and take out the other."

"Seems like a good Plan." Harry said

"I can't believe we are even entertaining this!" Caitlin argued. "How many people are Godspeed and Speed Demon going to kill before one defeats the other?"

Barry was deep in thought letting his comrades and friends bicker about how to deal with this threat."

* * *

 **Central City**

Still dragging Godspeed, Speed Demon was fully intending on killing the other speedster the same way he had been 'killed' leaving him as nothing but a bloody smear across Central City.

Godspeed wasn't going to have any of that however. He charged his right arm with the speed force and punched Speed Demon in the side, forcing him to let go as the black speedster rocketed into the side of a building.

Not even waiting for his counterpart to recover, Godspeed charged up more lightning on his arms and even on his leg. Two quick jabs later white lightning bolts raced for Speed Demon.

Speed Demon slid to the left and then the right in rapid succession avoiding the lightning but when he halted for a fraction of a second he saw a third lightning bolt already on top of him with no way to completely dodge. He moved to the left and the lightning bolt struck him in the shoulder with a blast of brilliant white light.

Speed Demon stood up from the attack. He looked down at his right arm and chest. Godspeed's lightning kick had blasted away pieces of his suit covering those areas exposing the pale skin beneath. The black speedster looked at Godspeed before cracking his neck.

" _ **Ouch**."_ Godspeed groaned.

Slightly exhaling the two speedsters charged once again white and black lightning fighting for dominance before exploding in a brilliant light. Speed Force energy exploded everywhere as the two speedsters vanished into the Speed Force reappearing miles away far away from Central City.

* * *

 **Downtown Central City**

Yellow lightning crisscrossed Central City as the Flash Family chased after Speed Demon and Godspeed. Only Barry, Caitlin, Ben and Wally were out chasing the two speedsters as Barry wanted Cisco, Eddie, Jay, Jesse, Kara and J'onn to hang back.

"Do we have any idea what is happening between Godspeed and Speed Demon?" Caitlin asked the speedsters around her.

"I haven't the feintest idea." Ben yelled back over the rushing of the winds. "Where I'm from they would have never met each other, let alone fought."

"Whatever their reasons are we have to stop them from hurting anyone!" They all came to full stops.

The road before them was scarred. A foot-deep trench ran through the middle of the road, Black and white electricity sparked off of nearly every metallic object while crimson flames burned even the asphalt of the road.

"Oh god… what happened here?" Caitlin asked as she surveyed one of the dozen or so unconscious bodies.

"This is a result of Godspeed and Speed Demon's fight. A blatant disregard for innocent bystanders." Ben hated to see such life wasted. As far as he remembered Barry had imprinted that thought into his brain, Caitlin also had something to do with it since 'Do no harm' was, as she said, engraved in her DNA. "They're worse than animals."

"Where'd they go?" Wally asked.

Ben placed his hand on the ground and closed his eyes. "What are you doing?" Ben looked to Caitlin addressing her confusion.

"It's a trick I picked up from you Mom. If I focus I can sense the presence of Other speedsters. Works best when there are remnants of their speed lingering."

"You're saying I can do that?" Caitlin asked then a thought crossed her mind, a contradiction Ben had mentioned earlier. "I thought you didn't know I was a Speedster until you arrived here?"

"I didn't, but this is one of the issues with my slightly shattered psyche." Ben shrugged pointing at his own cranium. "Some memories are saying you're the Speedster named Fast Track because of your ability to track other speedsters. I have no idea if any of them are real, but I like to think they are."

"Fast Track… Cisco proposed that name, I didn't like it all that much." The three other speedsters around her chuckled.

Barry smiled warmly at her, he had liked that codename for Caitlin. "Well, Fast Track, I think we found a new nickname for you."

"Really? We're going to call me 'Fast Track' even though I cannot do this speed tracking trick." Caitlin rolled her eyes. She looked to Ben who gave his future mother a reassuring smile.

"It's fine mom. After this, I can teach you how to do it." The female speedster gave Ben a smile.

* * *

 **STAR Labs Cortex**

"We should be out there Helping Barry." Kara argued in frustration at being 'benched.'

"Barry said we should hang back here and wait for them to strike first." Cisco answered.

"He's right, It's better to not show our opponent all of our cards. Just give it a little more time Kara." J'onn gently placed a hand on his surrogate super powered daughter's shoulder.

Jay hovered near Harry and Jesse watching the monitors. As the most veteran speedster, all the other speedster had an unsung respect for Jay Garrick. With that said there was something about Ben that put Jay off. Mostly it was because he was a man out of time. He should not exist yet and his very presence was influencing the actions of Barry, Caitlin and everyone else on the Earth Prime Team Flash. Sure Ben was saying how he wanted their help in defeating Speed Demon so he could return to his time. Still, Jay thought back to the lecture he gave Barry about a year ago when Barry was accidentally thrust into the Future. The Future is not set in stone, it never will be because the moment the Future becomes set is the moment it becomes the Past.

"So, in your sage Speedster knowledge what do you think of this?" Harry asked Jay.

"I honestly don't know." Jay replied. "I am fine with helping Barry, but I just do not trust this Ben."

"Because he's a Time Remnant." Harry was not asking a question. He knows how dangerous Time Remnants are. Hunter Zolomon's reckless use of Time Remnants resulted in him being carried off and enslaved by the Speed Force.

Jay just nodded. "For Ben, it's only a matter of time until the Speed Force catches up with him. And I don't want to see Barry and Caitlin hurt by Ben's reckless time traveling."

"You and I both. Feels like no matter what happens Allen is prone to screw over the timeline in some way shape and form."

"Excuse me is this S.T.A.R. Labs?" Everyone in the Cortex stopped what they were doing and turned around towards the voice none of them recognized. Standing in the entrance to the Cortex was a woman wearing a skin tight violet and black suit. In the center of her chest were two intersecting black lightning bolts that ran from shoulder to hip. She looked like a speedster and given the number of speedster they came across being evil, everyone was not willing to take a chance.

"Uh, can we help you?" Cisco asked nervously.

"My name is Olvida," Violet lightning began to dance all over her. "I'm here on behalf of Godspeed. I have a message for all of you."

Everyone immediately got into a fighting position. Lightning surged around Jay and Jesse while blue flames formed around Eddie and J'onn turned into his true martian self. Unfortunately no one was ready as Olvida suddenly was by Kara and jamming her hand into the Kryptonian's skull. Kara's eyes rolled into the back of her head as they closed and she collapsed to the floor.

"KARA!" Alex yelled for her sister and rushed to her side, but Olvida shoved her hand into Alex's heat before shoving it into Jesse's head. In another millisecond Olvida shoved her hand into Cisco, Eddie and Harry's heads making them collapse to the floor. Jay and J'onn were fast enough to avoid her, one because of his helmet and the other because of his intangibility.

"Well, well, well. Looks like we've got a pair that can handle me." Olvida teased.

"What did you do to them!" J'onn demanded.

"Oh, they aren't dead if that's what you're wondering, They will be perfectly fine in an hour or two."

"You're coming with us Miss." Jay readied himself for a fight.

Olvida smiled. "I don't think so." Her violet lightning flashed in her eyes as she grinned wickedly.

* * *

 **Outside Central City**

On the other side of the city Speed Demon forced himself back to his feet. The Speed Force Portals were making the two powerful speedsters crisscross huge swaths of land in fractions of a millisecond.

Despite their fight being abnormally long for them, it had only been a few seconds to the rest of the world and they were fast approaching Speed Demon's one minute deadline and Godspeed knew this.

And in a flurry of flames and lighting he grabbed Godspeed lifted him high before bringing him down on his knee. He tossed the white speedster to the ground but he still got up.

The white speedster retaliated by plunging his fist into Speed Demon's ribs repetitively before reaching out and grabbing Speed Demon's neck. " _ **That's the difference between us little brother! You were never fast enough to challenge me!"**_

Speed Demon's mind began to drift. " _You're not fast enough to fight Godspeed. You'll never be fast enough to fight him!"_ The words of the Flash echoed in his mind from when he was, well, human. He was right, there was a time when Speed Demon was not fast enough, in fact Speed Demon was the slowest of all the speedsters.

" _ **I wonder, why did the Flash take you in as a pupil?"**_ Godspeed asked. " _ **I was the protégé! The heir to his legacy! No one deserved these powers as much as I do!"**_

Godspeed and Speed Demon charged each other once more. The two clashed in a mighty thunderclap Godspeed's fist met the flat of the energy blade. Giving no ground they both came around for another swing with also resulted in a thunderclap when the energy met. Godspeed recovered a little sooner than Speed Demon and thrust his hand intending to pierce 'little brother' in the heart.

Speed Demon blocked with the shaft of his energy scythe before circling around behind and slashing the white speedster's exposed back.

Godspeed screamed out in pain leaving him wide open. Moving in to strike the wounded man Speed Demon swung again only this time Godspeed caught his blade with his hand.

With his opponent, slightly immobilized Godspeed fired a lightning bolt point blank at Speed Demon's head but the black speedster acrobatically leapt over him and swept his legs out from under him.

Godspeed tried to get back to his feet but Speed Demon was just a little faster as he wrapped a black lightning chain wreathed in red flames around Godspeed's neck and began to choke the life out of him. He hated Godspeed with seemingly every fiber of his being.

Godspeed chuckled with struggling for air. " _ **This… is not the end of… my road… brother… it has only begun**_ …"

There was a flash of yellow and some blue lightning and standing in front of Speed Demon and the beaten Godspeed stood four members of the Flash Family.

" _ **Flash…"**_ Speed Demon ignores the disdain in Godspeed's voice as he looked from his former mentor to the woman speedster.

The Flash Family gazed upon the wounded Speed Demon. The right chest and arm of his black suit were completely gone exposing the bare pale skin beneath as if covered in a permanent layer of ash.

"What the hell…" Barry breathed out seeing the two speedsters.

Ben felt rage flare through him at the sight of both Speed Demon and Godspeed. He clenched his fist in anger.

Seeing three of the four speedsters Speed Demon waved his left hand over the exposed flesh and black lightning warped around it reforming his suit. His gaze never left the woman known as Fast Track.

Ben's rage came to a boiling point and he could not hold himself back as he charged off towards Speed Demon.

The Black speedster saw this coming and grabbed Ben by the throat with his left hand and began to squeeze tightly. Unfortunately for Speed Demon, in moving to grab Ben his grip on the chain around Godspeed's neck laxed just ever so slightly allowing the white speedster to make a counter attack. He swung a lightning clad elbow into the black speedster's ribs forcing him to completely release both Ben and Godspeed.

The force of the blow threw Speed Demon at least a football field away from the group. Speed Demon got right back to his feet and closed the distance easily. Grabbing Godspeed by his facemask the black speedster violently slammed him into the ground.

The encounter was happening so fast that all four of the speedsters found it nigh impossible to follow. Black and white lighting shot every direction along with Speed Demon's crimson flames.

When the lightning and flames died down they saw Speed Demon pining Godspeed to the ground. His left leg held down the white speedster's legs, his right leg held down his right arm while his energy scythe pinned Godspeed's right.

" _ **This has been hardly fair."**_ Godspeed barely managed to say. Black lightning coursed all over Speed Demon's right hand. " _ **Time's up…"**_ Godspeed chuckled as Speed Demon's hand shot for his face. Before he could grab him, Speed Demon faded away, being pulled back into the Speed Force, leaving the five speedsters in silence

Godspeed surveyed the four speedsters across from him. " _ **Well now, this seems slightly unfair. I mean I just got out of the fight of my life with the Devil."**_ His eyes fell upon Barry. " _ **Hello Flash."**_

" _ **Godspeed, right**_?" Barry asked disguising his voice.

" _ **Oh, please Barry, there's no reason to disguise you voice drop the vibrating voice**_."

" _ **I'd rather not."**_

" _ **Your choice, doesn't matter any way."**_ Godspeed tapped his wrist.

"Whatever you're doing it won't work Godspeed! We have you out numbered and out matched." Ben said.

" _ **True, but I have something none of you have."**_

" _ **And what's that?" Wally asked.**_

" _ **A secret Weapon, and she should be finishing up with your friends at STAR Labs right about…"**_ There was a whoosh and a crackle of violet colored lightning as a woman in a skin tight dark purple suit appeared behind Kid Flash. Faster than any of the speedsters could react she shoved a vibrating hand into Wally's head before moving on and shoving that same hand into Caitlin's head, Barry's head and finally Ben's head.

All four speedsters completely blacked out before collapsing to the ground unconscious.

" _ **Nice of you to join us Olvida."**_

"I wouldn't miss this for the world Godspeed."

" _ **I trust you took care of the interlopers at S.T.A.R. Labs?**_ "

"They, along with these speedsters have no clue what you look like."

Godspeed smiled beneath his mask. " _ **Good, I knew it was a good plan to bring you along Mindsweeper."**_

* * *

This is the end of the chapter

Please tell me what you liked, didn't like, look forward to/think will happen, or your general thoughts and comments, this will help me make the story better; I'm a big boy so I can take criticism. And if you Review you get a Shout Out and questions answered either privately or in the next chapter.

 **SEVEN REVIEWS, FAVORITES OR FOLLOWS AND I'LL TRY TO UPDATE IN A WEEK. EVERY TWO OVER THAT AND I'LL DO ONE DAY SOONER.**

 **(i.e. 9 R/F/F = 6-day update)**

Have a Fantastic day


	11. A New Hero

**Disclaimer:** The following is a nonprofit Fan based story; The FLASH and all related characters are owned by DC comics, the CW and anyone I may have missed.

Like I always seem to say to the point of redundancy (doesn't mean it's any less true) I love everyone who Reviews, Favorites and or Follows any of my stories. Again, if I didn't respond I apologize and just let me know.

Reviews: **wilsonenmanual43, HulkVahkiin, josephguy21, AReiss215, Ranger McAleer,** **changingdestiny40,** and **Master Skywalker 121**

Favorites: **Smarvin,** **pr0ject-0verlord** and **Killie159**

Followers: **Smarvin, pr0ject-0verlord** and **Star0890**

OK this chapter took longer than I initially anticipated which isn't really surprising since I have a large exam coming up next week which means I will not be able to start the next chapter until March 1st. Please hang tight I'll try and get back on track with writing and posting once my exam is finished.

* * *

 _The Flash: Survival of the Fastest_

Chapter 10: A New Hero

* * *

 **October 6,2017**

 **Central City**

In an alley in an older part of Central City two men lurked in some kind of dark alley deal.

"I heard you've got something new." The first man said. Between the two of them he was much more nervous rubbing his hands together. He was nothing special, just some druggie punk.

"Depends, you got what I want?" The dealer asked

Nodding vigorously the Punk reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. The dealer smiled and pulled out a tiny vial filled with a red liquid. "That's it?"

"My boss said this is the newest shit on the market. Only thing is, it'll cost ya' a lot more than usual."

"Yeah, no problem." He moved for his wallet but the dealer stopped him.

"Two grand."

"Two grand!? I… I can't make that much!" The dealer shrugged and placed the vial back into his pocket.

"Then our business here is concluded."

"No! Wait! I can get you the money!"

"How?"

"Like this!" The punk jumped onto the dealer forcing him to the ground before he began to mercilessly beat the man. He continued to pummel the man for a solid minute before grabbing a loose brick and continuing to bash the man's face in until his skull shattered and there was nothing left of his face. His jaw was broken and hanging half off while his right eye hung out of the socket while the other was swollen shut.

Not wasting any time, the punk began to rifle through the dealer's clothes pulling out the vial of red liquid. Popping the cork, he poured the contents down his throat. It tasted like acid going down his throat. He doubled over and vomited something that was a mix of stomach bile and blood.

His whole body suddenly began to convulse and pain rushed over every fiber of him as each bone and muscle broke and was restructured. His clothes began to rip and tear and even his skin began to tear with it.

"AAAAAAAAAHHHH! AHHHHH! MMMMMMAAAAAAHH! AAAAAAHHHH! MMAAAAAAAAAAAHH!" His screams soon turned into bleats as his bodily transformation continued.

* * *

 **Outskirts of Central City**

Barry groaned as he pushed himself back to his feet. His mind and vision were slightly blurred but slowly returning. He looked around him, Caitlin was on the ground, moving slightly. In an instant Barry was by her side gently holding her in his arms.

"Cait… Caitlin…" He gently shook her until her groggy eyes were focused on him.

"Barry…" Caitlin glanced around them. The ground was scorched and they were definitely not in Central City, but she could see it in the distance. "What are we doing this far outside the City?"

"I don't know…" Barry looked around. Wally was still unconscious on the ground. "Wally…" Gently putting Caitlin onto her feet, the two speedsters made their way to Wally.

"Wally?" Caitlin gently shook Wally until Kid Flash opened his eyes.

"Ow…" Wally rubbed his head as he sat up. "My head…" He looked from Caitlin to Barry. "What's going on?"

"We were hoping you could tell us." Barry said

"Well, uh I thought Cisco and I were supposed to go and get Jesse and Harry." Kid Flash rubbed his head.

"Why are we out here?" Caitlin turned and saw Ben standing not too far from the rest of them. "Ben…" She went into a slight 'mom mode' and flashed over to her son. But he seemed to be completely lost in thought.

"Ben! Oh my god! Are you Okay?"

"Caitlin…" Ben turned to his mother. "What's going on? Why are we out here?"

"I…I don't know…"

"In any case, we should get back to S.T.A.R. Labs," Barry said as he and Wally joined the other two speedsters.

"Yeah…" In flashes of lightning all four speedsters raced back to the lab.

* * *

 **S.T.A.R. Labs, Cortex**

They arrived at in the cortex and were quite surprised to see not only Cisco and Eddie, but also, they saw Harry, Jesse, Kara, and Kara's sister Alex.

"Kara?" Barry asked surprised. "When did you guys get here?"

"We were hoping you knew that. And why we are here." Supergirl added

"That would be lovely… except we cannot answer that." Wally said.

"He means maybe if you guys stick around we can figure out why you're here." Caitlin offered.

"We'd love to stay and help you guys but we need to get back to National City." Alex said "We've been gone for an unknown amount of time."

"About nine hours." Everyone turned to see J'onn and Jay reenter the lab. Both mentors looked relatively unharmed.

"J'onn!" Kara and Alex rushed their Martian Mentor surprised to see him here. "What are you doing here?"

"I came here with you two." J'onn said. "I am unsure of when or how."

"So, none of us knows why we are here or what we are supposed to be doing?" Barry asked looking to all his friends. "Who has an answer?"

"That's what we were hoping you could tell us." Jay responded. "From what J'onn and I gathered we are all missing the last nine hours of our lives. Last thing I remember is heading out to deal with one of my rouges named Thorn."

"Nine hours!?" Jesse quipped before turning to her dad. "How's that possible?"

"We don't know." Jay replied "One minute I was on my earth about to fight one of my rouges, Thorn, then suddenly I am here next to a Martian from another reality." He said gesturing to J'onn.

This was when Martian Manhunter spoke up. "I used my psychic abilities to search for a reason behind the gaps in our memories but even I found nothing."

"That's impossible. If someone has messed with our memories, you should be able to detect it J'onn." Alex said knowing the Martian's abilities the best.

"I tried… whatever has been done to us it must have something to do with why we are here and why none of us can remember the last nine hours." J'onn crossed his arms over his chest. "I think We should start with the elephant in the room." J'onn and everyone from the alternate earths looked at Ben.

"What?" The young time traveler asked

"Not a single one of us knows who you are, aside from the people of this Earth," J'onn said. "Speculation dictates that you're are the reason we are here."

"Look… I don't know why any of you are here. And You are all mistrusting of me because I am the new guy of sorts, but If we truly went out of our way to bring you guys here then it was to help us fight my arch-nemesis so I can return home, to my time." Ben explained to his skeptical audience.

"I believe him." Kara spoke up making Ben smile slightly. Floating around his heads he saw memories where he heard Barry speaking about Kara Zor-El's belief in the inherent goodness of people. But just as soon as he saw it his vision shifted into another vision.

He saw his hand wrapped around Supergirl's neck while his free hand jammed into her glowing eyes. There was a horrendous blast and Ben watched Kara's body collapse to her knees with nothing but a smoldering stump where her had had been. Ben stumbled and clutched his head as the S.T.A.R. Labs Cortex flooded back into view.

"Hey," Kara was resting an arm on his shoulder. "Are you OK?"

"I'm fine…" Ben breathed heavily.

"No, you're not." Caitlin told her son. "Something's wrong with you. You've been having blackouts and just when you've seemingly overcome them suddenly we all have blackouts at the same time. It's probably all connected."

Ben eyed Caitlin as another vision flashed across his vision. He saw from a distance Caitlin's limp body in Barry's arms. He could see blood staining her blouse a deep crimson while Barry was desperately trying to keep pressure on the deep gash across her stomach. Ben gasped as he lurched forward.

"Ben!" Barry immediately was on the other side of Ben helping Caitlin keep their future son upright.

"What's wrong with him?" Kara asked

"I don't know." Caitlin said a little frightened. "We have to get him to the Med Bay."

"I'll Help." Alex said since she and Caitlin were, most likely, the most skilled bio-engineers on the combined team.

* * *

 **Westside Central City Apartments**

A lone man walked into his apartment. There wasn't much to Andrew Cook, that is his name, He's a fireman for the Central City Fire Department, Widower, and a single parent to his six-year-old daughter Stephanie.

He had felt lousy all day at the station and when he took his temperature he found it high, like 99.7 F, the fire chief practically ordered him to go home and rest. He needed some soup and rest, and to cancel his date with his girlfriend. Luckily, he wouldn't be completely alone because his daughter should be home from school. He didn't want her to get sick, she was his precious little star.

"Hi Daddy!" His little girl greeted him brightly as she rushed to give him a hug.

"Easy there pumpkin…" The man held out his hand to keep her from touching him. "Daddy's feeling a little under the weather tonight. I think I'm just going to go to bed…"

"I can make you some chicken soup! Like you do when I'm sick!" Stephanie beamed exposing her smile with three missing teeth.

"That would be nice… but I don't want have I said about you using the appliances?"

"Don't use the stove or oven without you."

"That's my little star." Andrew gave his daughter a smile before heading off to bed.

He laid down in his bed and closed his eyes, unaware of the large amount of sweat covering his body, had he taken his temperature again Andrew Cook would have seen that his temperature was abnormally high, too high for a human to survive. While he slept soundly his body temperature continued to rise. His blankets began to smoke and his sweat was immediately turning to steam. Needless to say, things were not going well for Andrew Cook.

* * *

 **S.T.A.R. Labs**

While Caitlin and Alex helped walk ben to the Med Bay, Barry turned to the rest of the team who were all looking for an explanation as to what happened with Ben and unfortunately for the Fastest Man Alive he had no viable explanation, but he tried to explain it to the best of his ability.

Though it might have been pure luck or coincidence that his phone went off in that moment.

Barry pulled it out and looked at the caller ID, it was Iris. "Iris, what's going on?"

"Barry? Finally, you answer! What's happening over there? I've been trying to call My dad and Eddie for hours and none of you've been responding." Iris' voice sounded frantic, almost like she was in some kind of trouble.

"Iris, what's wrong?" Barry immediately received a worried look from Eddie regarding his wife.

"What's wrong, you guys should check out the news! There's a massive fire on the western side of Central City."

Barry, without hanging up on Iris, turned to Cisco. "Cisco, turn on the news."

Vibe complied and everyone turned their attention to the monitors as they were covering a large apartment fire. The flames were burning so hot that the water from the firehoses was making minimal impact on the raging flames. According to the reporter on scene about three dozen people and four firefighters were still inside when the blaze intensified.

"Oh, my god…" Kara breathed out.

"Let's go!" Barry said to the rest of the speedsters.

* * *

 **Westside Central City Apartments**

All the Flashes, minus Caitlin and Ben, along with Supergirl rushed out of STAR Labs and headed towards the fire. They arrived on the scene and were immediately forced back by the sheer intensity of the flames. Barry quickly scanned the scene before turning to the rest of the team. They spoke super quick so as not to waste any time so what might have been a minute conversation really took place in the span of a single second.

"OK, Wally, you two take the eastern end of the complex. Jesse, take the western end, get as many people out as you can. Jay, think we can make a cyclone around the fire big enough to extinguish the flames?"

"It's possible but it would take away a lot of the oxygen in the area."

"I can use my cold breath to help contain the fire while you guys get move people out." Kara suggested

"OK…" Barry nodded. "GOoooooooooooooo…" Before Barry could even finish his sentence the would slowed down to a halt. Time had all but stopped, or rather everything in existence was suspended in and inconceivably small period of time.

A streak of gold and white lightning burst past our heroes and dove into the inferno. Standing for a moment in the heart of the blaze was Godspeed in all his glory. He took a deep breath and allowed the Speed Force to surge through his body like a raging storm. Behind his golden lenses, he opened his eyes and ran. The cracks of thunder he created were all suspended in time as Gold lightning tore through the flames.

Swiftly he scooped up people and carried them out of danger. Building groaned under the strain, though it was also suspended in time. In that minuscule amount of time Godspeed had gotten all but two people out of the building. He made his way to the last apartment, the source of the blaze and phased through the door. He found Stephanie Cook frozen in place in the middle of hammering on the bedroom door of her father. He grabbed the little girl and flashed her out of the Apartment complex. Despite being practically frozen in time Godspeed could feel that she was completely unharmed, no burns, no lung damage, he body wasn't even that warm.

The moment he escaped the building with the little girl Time resumed it's proper flow. The Flashes and Supergirl, everyone watched in stunned silence as all the residents and Firefighters suddenly appeared in front of them a safe distance away from the building as it groaned and collapsed.

"DADDY!" Little Stephanie Cook screamed she tried to wrestle out of the white speedster's arms. There was a roar of thunder and a flash of light. Godspeed was gone and then back carrying the little girl's father over his shoulders.

Gently Godspeed lowered the man to the ground next to his daughter giving paramedica ample room to look over the two of them.

"Stephanie broke away from the doctors and hugged Godspeed's leg tightly. "Thank… thank you Mr." He could barely contain her tears of happiness.

" _ **You're welcome**_." He ruffled her hair gently before sending her back to the paramedics.

Soon Godspeed found himself surrounded by reporters as well as The Flash, Kid Flash, Jesse Quick, The Older Flash and Supergirl.

" _ **Who are you**_?" Barry asked in his disguised voice since it was the question on the mind of everyone.

" _ **Uh…"**_ Godspeed hesitated for a moment. " _ **My name is Godspeed, and I'm here to help."**_

* * *

 **S.T.A.R. Labs, Med Bay**

Back at STAR Labs Caitlin and Alex had gotten Ben onto the bed and hooked up to all proper monitors. Caitlin was very worried for Ben, yes, he was from one of an infinite number of possible futures, but she still cared for him.

"Alright, I've administered a mild sedative." Alex said. "That should keep him calm."

"Why is this happening to him?" Caitlin wondered aloud. Her question was directed more towards herself as well as all of her friends. Every time something seemed to be going good there was some kind of ulterior motive behind it that usually was worse. Just once she would like to have a year where they weren't being threatened by a maniacal speedster from the future, or a different reality. Maybe for once in their lives they won't allow the future to dictate their lives, but seeing Ben laying there resting due to problems no one knew the answers too made those feelings evaporate. Right now, her only thoughts were about how she can help her son.

It might be a long shot but could we have J'onn take a look inside Ben's mind?" Alex suggested. "I know he said he was unable to discover anything about the missing hours but since this is affecting Ben differently maybe J'onn could find something."

"That may be the best course of action but having J'onn invade Ben's mind while he's unconscious would be unethical. Ben should have some say."

"Well, when he wakes up you should ask him." Alex said. "You know, you mentioned that During some of his blackouts Ben experiences visions of alternate lives. Kara went through something similar a few years ago."

"What happened?"

"Her uncle unleashed a deadly space parasite known as the Black Mercy on her. It feeds off of its host's life force while projecting images of a life she could have had."

Caitlin shrugged a little. "Well, I'm sorry but I do not see a parasitic space plant latched onto his chest. That would certainly make things easier."

"Maybe we can have J'onn send you into Ben's mind like he did for me and Kara." Alex suggested. "Perhaps having someone from reality beside him would help him before his psyche shatters too much."

"That could be worth a shot." Caitlin said smiling slightly. "It's quite nice having another bio-engineer to talk to who isn't my mother." Alex returned Caitlin's smile.

* * *

 **Rooftop Near the Fire**

The Flash Family and Supergirl stood atop a building away from the prying eyes of the public. Standing across from them was the new Speedster who was helping them out, Godspeed. Barry looked up and down the new speedster, a little skeptical mainly due to the number of unknowns Godspeed carried with him. Who was he? Where did he come from? How did he get his speed? Where did he get his suit? "So, Godspeed, do you have a name? Like an actual name?" Barry asked

" _ **I do Flash**_." Godspeed said in his disguised voice. " _ **But following the superhero code I believe I am entitled to hold that secret close much like you are.**_ "

"How did you get your speed if you don't mind me asking?" Barry asked the mysterious white speedster.

" _ **December 12 2013."**_ Godspeed said causing Barry to perk slightly. That was the date the Particle Accelerator went on and Exploded, in other words, the day Barry got his powers. " _ **I was being held at gunpoint and just before I was shot I was struck by a bolt of lightning. Suddenly I could move so fast time has been standing still**_."

"You got struck by lightning?" Wally asked

" _ **Yeah, hurt like a son of a bitch**_." Barry listened carefully. Godspeed was hit by lightning and got access to his speed immediately without a nine-month coma.

"If you wanted to be a hero why wait four years?" Barry asked.

" _ **I needed to understand what was happening to me."**_ Godspeed explained. " _ **I needed to know how to use my abilities without hurting people. First person I tried to save I accidentally killed**_." That bit of information caught everyone's attention. " _ **I knew then and there that I was not ready to be the hero I wanted to be, so I left Central City to explore my speed.**_ "

"So, you want to be a Hero?"

" _ **Yes!**_ _**I just want to be a hero and… well… you are kind of my role model Flash… I was hoping you could teach me. You've been the hero much longer than I and you know more about what we can do than I."**_

"Just give us a minute." All four speedsters and Supergirl huddled up. "So, what do we think?"

"New Speedster shows up and he apparently got his powers almost the exact same way as you, seems a little too… I don't know… convenient." Jay said.

"Yeah but he's the first speedster who's not from the future or an alternate Earth, nor did he get his powers from a degenerative speed drug or a psychotic Speed God and his apostle." Wally said.

"I agree, it is a little suspicious." Jay said thinking back to how Hunter Zolomon captured and impersonated him. "But not unlikely. Though I have to say I don't fully trust a man who completely hides his identity."

"I say we give him a chance." Kara added. "He says he wants to be a hero, He proved that he can be one when he saved those people from that fire."

"Do we have him join us?" Barry asked the group.

"This is your Earth Flash," Jay said. "It's your choice."

Breaking their huddle Barry turned to Godspeed and held out his hand. "Alright, Godspeed. We are willing to give you a shot at being a hero."

" _ **Thank you, Flash. You have no idea how much this means to me. I promise I will do everything you tell me! I will not let any of you down!"**_ Barry smiled beneath his mask as Godspeed vehemently shook his hand. " _ **So, uh… what happens now**_?" Godspeed asked.

" _Barry!"_ Cisco called into Barry's com.

"What is it Vibe?" Barry used Cisco's code name since they had just met Godspeed.

" _Meta-human causing a ruckus on the north end of the City,"_ Cisco replied.

"We're on our way!" Barry turned to Godspeed _._ "Alright Godspeed, you want to be a hero, now's the time to show it."

Godspeed smiled beneath his mask before he and the Flash Family took off towards the new meta-human.

* * *

This is the end of the chapter

Please tell me what you liked, didn't like, look forward to/think will happen, or your general thoughts and comments, this will help me make the story better; I'm a big boy so I can take criticism. And if you Review you get a Shout Out and questions answered either privately or in the next chapter.

 **SEVEN REVIEWS, FAVORITES OR FOLLOWS AND I'LL TRY TO UPDATE IN A WEEK. EVERY TWO OVER THAT AND I'LL DO ONE DAY SOONER.**

 **(i.e. 9 R/F/F = 6-day update)**

Have a Fantastic day


	12. Looming Crisis

**Disclaimer:** The following is a nonprofit Fan based story; The FLASH and all related characters are owned by DC comics, the CW and anyone I may have missed.

Like I always seem to say to the point of redundancy (doesn't mean it's any less true) I love everyone who Reviews, Favorites and or Follows any of my stories. Again, if I didn't respond I apologize and just let me know.

Reviews: **wilsonenmanual43, josephguy217, Master Skywalker 121, AReiss215, changingdestiny40, Guest** , and **HulkVahkiin**

 **Guest:** Well thank you

Favorites: **ShadowKnightBannana**

Followers: **Eksrag**

Alright guys, I am back and while this chapter is on the short side I like to think of it as a follow up to the previous chapter while also serving as a Segway for the back half of the story.

Also, if I end up going missing for about a month after next week you all can blame it on _Mass Effect: Andromeda_

* * *

 _The Flash: Survival of the Fastest_

Chapter 11: Looming Crisis

* * *

 **Earth 131216**

On Earth 131216, a reality where humans were not the dominant species, Speed Demon crouched next to the severed head of this Earth's version of The Flash. Throughout the Multiverse every reality, save for one, had at least one resident Speedster, and it was his duty to collect them.

Unfortunately, someone had murdered this Earth's Speed Force Conduit, and at the beginning of his journey. This speedster was poised to replace the current Speed Force Conduit for she was old and nearing the end of her life and Speed Demon could not collect her until she had a proper successor.

Speed Demon understood the gravity of the situation, of the countless Earths and realities Speedsters were being either abducted, drained of their powers or murdered. The black speedster knew who was behind these actions and their reasoning for it. Godspeed was attempting to amass a large force of speedsters to challenge him. Odds were, it was easy to convince some to join him as Speed Demon was seen as the monster the boogeyman checks under his bed for.

" _Who did this_? _Who dared to murder my legacy!_ " She demanded as she arrived in a massive surge of green lightning. Her mighty voice echoed like thunder to match her lightning and the earth seemed to tremble with the storm she brought with her. Normally humans could not understand her as she was a beast and therefore did not communicate in any human language. Fortunately for Speed Demon their connection to the Speed Force allowed him to understand her despite no one being able to understand him save for Godspeed.

Speed Demon didn't turn to her, he would be unable to explain himself for the Queen had already made up her mind that he was guilty.

" _Grave Runner!"_ She bellowed seeing the black speedster next to the severed head of her child. " _You dare show your face here? And you have the audacity to behead my child"_

Thunder boomed and green lightning flashed. Speed Demon looked upon The Speed Force Conduit as her storm barely illuminated her. She was a truly magnificent and terrifying sight to behold. She was a mighty Chestnut Colored Shire Horse, nearly twice the size of an average Shire Horse with a fiery red mane and green lightning arcing all over her body and pulsing from within her, giving her chestnut coat a slight greenish glow. She was known by a multitude of names over the course of her immense life; most famously Sleipnir, the mount of the Nordic God Odin, The Man-eating Mare of Thrace, she was even known as Greek deities like Poseidon, for she was more like a force of nature than a living creature.

No matter what he could say to the Beast, she would be unable to understand him. No speedster could, save for Godspeed. Knowing that there was going to be a fight Speed Demon generated his signature Speed Force Scythe. He would have to allow his actions to speak for him.

" _You challenge me_?" She demanded. " _I have been a Conduit for the Speed Force for nigh three thousand years! I have seen Speedsters Rise and Speedster's fall!"_

The two speedsters, one beast and the other a monster, allowed their lightning to flicker and clash before tearing off moving to meet scythe with hoof. The clash of these two powerful conduits would be felt throughout the multiverse and the Speed Force, but that is a story for another time.

* * *

 **Earth-Prime**

Barry glanced to his right at the white clad speedster running alongside him. They were about equal in speed but from what he could gather Godspeed only knew how to run fast. He didn't know about phasing, throwing lightning or even creating whirlwinds. In his opinion it seemed like a waste of talent to spend four years to just running fast.

With a crackle of yellow and gold lightning Godspeed and the Speedsters slid to a stop. Wreaking havoc in the city was a beast none of them have ever seen except in an old text book from middle school.

The Beast was in actuality a large bipedal goat man, which was strange. He wore tattered clothes and was covered in light brown fur. While his feet were hoofed like a goat his hands were a different story. He still possessed five digits on each hand but each one appeared to be made of a thick black hoof. Aside from his elongated face and bovine eyes he had two large curved horns jutting out from the crown of his head.

His hoofed fingers were wrapped tightly around several duffle bags and a few bills fluttered in the breeze as he rampaged.

"Is that a Meta-Goat?" Wally asked highly confused.

"Kind of like Grodd, only a Goat… Hopefully he's not psychic nor does he have an army." Jesse added.

The Goat man bleated before charging several cops who elected to open fire on the monster. Acting slightly faster than the rest of the speedsters, Godspeed took off in a bolt of gold electricity and pulled the police away from the goat as he smashed his horns into a nearby concrete pillar.

"That ought to take" Wally smiled at how easy this was as the Goat man's head collided with the masonry. Cracks spread out from the point of impact in all directions before the pillar crumbled and the goat man was unharmed. "him… out…"

" _ **So, I'm thinking he's more of a Bighorn Sheep than a goat."**_ Godspeed said as he rejoined the group. " _ **What now**_?"

The bovine man bleated before charging once again, each speedster took off in a different direction while Supergirl stood her ground. She grabbed a hold of his horns and, despite the tiny struggle, managed to wrestle the beast to the ground.

He tried to get back up but Supergirl's absurd strength allowed her to easily keep him pinned to the ground.

The goat man continuously struggled under the weight of Supergirl, even managing to rise a little before being pelted with a barrage of punches courtesy of The Flash, Jay Garrick, Jesse Quick, Kid Flash and Godspeed. Eventually they over powered him and he collapsed to the ground with no fight left.

"That was easy." Kara said smiling as she dusted off her hands. The beast convulsed and shrunk in size, his fur falling off, horns retreated into his skull as his body restructured itself into a human form.

"No…" He groaned as he tried to claw away from the heroes. "No, no, no… I need more…" He reached into the remainder of his tattered pants and pulled out a vial with a tiny amount of crimson liquid that greatly resembled blood.

He was about to bring it to his lips when a stream of golden lightning raced by him and snatched away the vial. Godspeed looked down at the vial before looking at the man. " _ **I don't know what this is but I have a feeling it's not good for you**_."

"GIVE IT BACK!" The man screamed "I NEED IT! I-" The man suddenly doubled over vomiting out a blend of stomach bile and blood. The sudden ejection of bodily fluid repulsed the heroes for a moment. "AAAAAAAAAAA!" The man looked up and screamed as blood leaked out of his eyes, nose and ears.

"What's happening?" Barry asked.

Kara used her x-ray vision to look into the man's body and was horrified by what she was seeing. His bones were breaking, muscles were tearing and his organs were rupturing. "He's being torn apart from the inside!" Kara exclaimed. "He needs medical attention right away!" Immediately The Flash and Godspeed lifted him up and flashed him to the nearest emergency room, while also cuffing him to the hospital bed.

All the heroes gathered back at the crime scene trying to figure out what they had just witnessed. "Anyone know what we just saw?" Wally asked

"A dude who drinks a red liquid and transforms into a giant goat man." Jesse said taking the vial from Godspeed. "From what we saw it might have something to do with this."

"We need to take it back to S.T.A.R. Labs." Kara said before turning to Godspeed realizing what she had just said with the 'newbie' present.

" _ **I kind of figured you'd use a sophisticated laboratory. Never thought it was the derelict S.T.A.R. Labs."**_ Godspeed said.

"We need to take this to STAR Labs." Barry said. "Godspeed can come with us."

"You sure Barry?" Wally asked the scarlet speedster. "I mean we just met him and you're OK with bringing him to the Lab?"

"He helped us out just now. If anything, he deserves the benefit of the doubt." Barry said. He looked to Kara, Jesse and Jay for some morsel of approval and got it as a smile from Kara, a nod from Jesse, but Jay bore his usual neutral visage.

" _ **Look, Flash… I get it if you don't want me to join any of you back at your base. Believe me, if I were in your situation I'd do the same thing."**_

Barry listened to Godspeed's words before turning to his team then back to the white speedster. "Maybe you should come with us." Barry said. "We have a lab dedicated to Speedsters. We can help you learn more about your powers."

" _ **Wait, are you telling me there's more to my powers aside from running very fast**_?" Godspeed asked sounding quite surprised.

Barry smiled a little. "There is so much more to what we can do than just running fast. Come with us to S.T.A.R. Labs and I'll show you."

Godspeed looked from The Flash to the other speedsters and Supergirl before smiling beneath his mask. "S _ **eriously? You're this willing to trust a guy you just met**_?"

"More like we're willing to give you the benefit of the doubt." Kara said smiling at the white speedster. "I believe if you're truly committed to being a hero why should we try and stop you."

"Exactly," Barry interjected. "We should be working together."

Godspeed's head drooped. "I… I don't deserve your trust Flash. You hardly know me…" The Speedsters and Supergirl were quite surprised when they heard that his voice was no longer disguised. "If I want you to truly trust me I guess there's no point in concealing my identity from any of you. I trust all of you, so I will tell you my biggest secret, hopefully this will make us closer allies." He reached up and gripped the bottom edge of his mask. Slowly he removed it showing his face to Team Flash.

Underneath his white and gold mask was a chiseled face with a scruffy beard and shaggy black hair. He gave everyone a soft smile as they gazed upon his face. "It's time I properly introduce myself. My name is August Heart."

* * *

 **Star City, Mayor's Office**

Mayor Oliver Queen read over the police report. Last night there had been a murder, two drug dealers were found dead, one had three arrows in his chest while the other was found nearby with his skull crushed into his chest. These gruesome murders, caused by The Arrow and Skull Crusher as the public was referring to them, where popping up more and more frequently in the last few days and frankly it was starting to unnerve Oliver.

"Mr. Queen your Two O'clock is here." His secretary said snapping him out of his thoughts.

"Thank you, Felicity," Oliver replied to the intercom. "Send them in."

A few moments later a beautiful young woman walked into the room. She had shoulder length dirty blond hair and a figure many supermodels probably would kill for. She wore a sleek navy-blue blouse and black suit pants with nice shoes while having a red purse slung over her left shoulder. How was Oliver to describe her face? Stunning. She reminded him an awful lot of Laurel and if he were about ten years younger and not married to the love of his life he would most certainly be hitting on this woman.

"Good afternoon Mayor Queen." She reached out to shake his hand. "My name is Sasha King. We spoke on the phone yesterday regarding your renewed 'Save the Bay' plan."

Oliver smiled. "Oh yes. Thank you for coming Mrs-"

"It's Miss King, Mr. Queen." Sasha corrected him. "And before you ask I am still a college student despite my age."

"Age? You hardly look a day over thirty."

Sasha gave him a hard stare. "Didn't your Mother teach you to never question a woman's age?" She almost immediately regretted her words. "I'm sorry that was indecent of me."

"No, it's quite alright. I did kind of deserve that. So how can I help you Ms. King?"

"Well, my brother and I are fairly new to this city and we would like to get more involved in the community."

"That's good to hear, how-"

"We would like to donate 1.4 million dollars to your 'Save the Bay' program." That caught Oliver off guard.

"1.4 Million?" He questioned. "I was expecting somewhere around five hundred thousand max from all our donors. Dare I ask where this is rooted?"

"Well, my brother and I, we are quite the environmentalist nuts. Our dad ran a lumber company up in Washington for every tree he cut down he planted one more in its place. And we just find it aspiring that you are a politician who is willing to put your money where your mouth is."

"I… I honestly don't know what to say Ms King." Oliver reached out and shook her hand again. He was over the moon about the 1.4 million dollars as it was triple their expected amount. "How can I ever repay you for this?"

Sasha thought for a minute. "Well, there is something you can do." She reached into her purse. "but it requires you to come with me

"What?" Oliver didn't have time to react as a piercing screech exploded into his ears. It was so intense it actually caused Oliver Queen to pass out.

Satisfied, Sasha pulled out her phone and dialed the number marked _Badass Bro_ "Zeke, I got him. Meet me at the base."

* * *

 **Gem Cities' Crime Families Meeting Grounds**

Contrary to what the Police and justice departments of both Central and Keystone City knew and told the public there was a large underground ring of crime families that none of the public authorities knew existed. In a way it was the Underworld of the Gem Cities and beyond. Normally these families would not interact with each other, but there was a disturbance that threatened the balance of their carefully crafted world.

"Gentlemen," Demetri Corlone, the leader of the Corlone Family, which was responsible for the majority of the high-tech weapons flooding the streets of every major city around the world. "It appears that we have a new player wanting to get in on this game."

Other families included Hamato Saki, the local representative of the Yakuza, Hector Alcazar, the leader of the Cartel responsible for the drugs on the streets, and the Tesoro family, which owned numerous casinos, hotels and banks, such as the ones that were hit and robbed a few days ago, across the world.

"This bastard is flooding the streets with a new drug." Alcazar said. He was the one member of this group who would be most affected by this new drug as it undercut him in almost every possible area. "Some of my men were able to obtain it and I have seen nothing like it. It's even more unknown than that Venom drug from Santa Prisca."

"What is it?" Michael Tesoro asked. If one were to hazard a guess, the Tesoro family possessed roughly seven percent of all the global money.

"It's called MH-52." The heads of the crime families looked up and turned to the door way to see ADA David Caesar walking in. "And it is the drug that has made all of your businesses obsolete."

"You've got a lot of nerve coming in here Caesar." Saki bit down on his cigarette and snapped his fingers. Almost in unison every bodyguard in the room drew his gun and aimed at the Assistant District Attorney.

Caesar held his hands up but refused to drop his grin. "Relax gentlemen. I am just here to inform you regarding MH-52."

"If you have something to say Caesar say it!" Corlone demanded.

"MH-52 is a highly addictive drug." The ADA said. "So addictive, it can easily trump a person's craving of heroine, cocaine, meth or even Venom. And that's not even the best part about it. Best part is it also makes weapons obsolete."

"What are you talking about?"

"MH-52 is a drug that grants ordinary people the powers of a God. No longer do these people need weapons to commit robberies, murder or even self-defense. They are their own weapons!" Not once did Caesar lose his grin as he spoke. "With it I have single handedly undermined your entire operation.

Having quite enough the heads of the crime families drew their guns and attempted to shoot the Assistant District Attorney but they found it impossible to move. Not only that but each of the crime heads felt something thin wrap tightly around their throats.

"What…" Tesoro could hardly breath as he felt the wire dig into his throat.

"Why… are you doing this?" Alcazar barely managed to say. "We had a deal…"

"Yes, I know. You provide me with a small cut off all profits and in return I keep you hidden form the authorities and ensure that not one of your men sees one minute of prison time." Caesar jumped up onto the table and crouched down to look into the Crime Bosses' eyes. "But sometimes a better offer comes around" He held up his right hand like it was a crossbar and Corlone could have sworn he saw razor thin wires protruding from his fingers and wrapping around their necks while also keeping their bodyguards frozen in place. "And you know how that old saying goes, To make an omelet you need to break a few eggs." With a devilish smile, he clenched his hand pulling on every single razor wire simultaneously.

Fountains of blood erupted from everyone in the room as the Crime Bosses' heads were removed from their bodies and their bodyguards were torn into jagged meat chunks leaving David Caesar alone in the middle of the blood bath with his plan complete, gather the crime families in one place? Accomplished by taking control of random people and using them to rob every one of their banks simultaneously while also flooding the streets with MH-52, forcing them to have an emergency meeting. Murder them all? A trivial matter when they were all together and to make things easier Caesar managed to commandeer their operations and using them to further his own cause, generating chaos.

Godspeed had told him he wanted chaos.

* * *

 **S.T.A.R. Labs**

Caitlin laid on a bed next to her son. Ben had woken up a little while ago and almost immediately Caitlin offered to dive into his mind to see if they couldn't find the source of all his mental blackouts as they were getting progressively worse with each passing hour.

J'onn J'onzz the Martian Manhunter stood between the Beds while Alex maned the machines displaying Ben's and her vitals.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" The Martian asked.

"Yes." Ben said absolutely sure of himself. He had to know why he was experiencing these detrimental lapses in memory and reality.

"Hey guys." They turned to the doorway of Caitlin's lab to see Cisco standing there. "You may want to join us in the cortex."

"What's going on?" Caitlin asked

"Uh, Barry and the Flash Family are back. And they brought a friend."

"Who?" Ben asked sitting up curious.

"Some guy named August Heart." Cisco said at which Ben seemed to perk right up gaining the attention of everyone around him.

"Ben?" Before Caitlin could get a response, Ben flashed out of the lab and into the cortex. Cisco, Caitlin Alex and J'onn followed shortly behind to find the rest of their friends in the cortex with Barry standing next to a youngish man in a white suit.

"August…" Ben seemed to whisper shocked to see the man standing before them.

"Alright everyone." Barry began to say to the rest of the team not hearing Ben. "I'd like to introduce you all to August Heart."

August, the man in the white suit, waved to the group and gave them all a reassuring smile. "Hello everyone. My name is August Heart and I am an aspiring hero named-" He was cut off when Ben suddenly enveloped him in a bone crushing hug. "Um… hello."

Ben broke the hig first and grinned like an idiot. "Damn sorry about that. My name's Ben." He held out his hand for August to shake, which he did. "Sorry about hugging you out of the blue. My life is a little crazy and it's nice to see a familiar face."

"Ben, you know August?" Barry asked

"Know him!?" Ben sheepishly ran a hand through his brown hair. "He's one of your best students. He even trained me for a while."

"Trained you? What are you from like the future or something?" August joked until he noticed everyone's unamused looks. "Wait are you serious? You're from the future?"

"Yeah, hence how I know you yet you have never met me."

"Cool." August said before turning to the rest of the group. "So, is there anyone else I should meet who has already met me before I meet them?"

After that initial first awkward introduction with Ben, August was slowly introduced to the rest of the team. He shook each and every one of their hands and exchanged pleasantries.

While everyone was gathered, and chatting with August J'onn, Jay Joe and Harry stood a few paces away from the young heroes.

"What do you guys think about this new speedster?" Joe asked. He genuinely liked August, he gave off the same vibe that Wally usually gave him just on his eagerness to save others.

"Dunno." Jay said. Joe honestly felt a little weird whenever Jay was around. The Flash of Earth-3 was a dead ringer for his old friend Henry Allen to the point Joe had to think about every word he was going to say so as to not accidentally call the man Henry even after knowing him for about two years. "He claims to have had his speed for roughly the same amount of time as Barry and yet none of us have ever heard of him."

"It has been my experience to not trust a speedster unless we know absolutely everything there is to know about him, and this guy is wearing everything on his sleeve." Harry said

"I tried to read his mind." J'onn said catching the attention of the other elder men. "I don't know why but I cannot read it. His thoughts are moving too fast for me to follow."

"I say for now we watch him carefully." Jay said "In the meantime We should all be heading back to our respective realities. Our cities can only protect themselves for so long." He gave the other men a smile and a tip of his helm before saying his goodbyes to the youngsters and heading back to his reality.

"Perhaps he's right." Harry said. "While we have been brought here for a reason I think it might be best if we all go back to our respective realities. Since there is clearly nothing here for us to do."

* * *

 **Godspeed's Lair**

Meanwhile, while Godspeed was winning the hearts and minds of Team Flash and the people of Central City, the young woman Godspeed kept as his prisoner began to convulse violently.

Once in a while this was normal for her, however this time it was much more severe as her true abilities granted by the Speed Force bloomed. Most people would say that her ability is the greatest gift possible, the ability to see into the future.

Her eyes begin to dart back and forth at vigorous speeds while emitting light green lightning. To Abigail it was torturous. The Speed Force had given her a curse rather than a blessing. Sure, she could see the future, that's how others perceived it, the truth was Abigail could see EVERY POSSIBLE Future. Though right now countless possible Futures showed her the same two visions with only one main difference in them.

The sky was split open and it looked like it was burning a deep orange hue as it illuminated the destruction of what she could only assume was Central City She saw a figure clad in a black suit with crimson flames billowing off of him while holding a sphere. There was a flash of green lightning and suddenly Speed Demon was replaced by the son of the Flash. As if they were the same person, Abigail watched them move between visions as if they were one as they activated the device in their hands causing a massive white light to burst forth and swallow everything.

The visions then suddenly stopped. Pulling her back into the present and leaving her breathless. There were an infinite number of paths available and yet most, if not all possible futures were leading to those possible events, the larger question was why could she not see anything beyond?

"So, what did you see?" Olvida asked the oracle. "Has the future been changed?" Terrified to answer Abigail adverted her gaze. Unfortunately, that provided the answer, and it made Godspeed furious. He wanted vengeance against the Flash but it seemed like no matter what happens The Flash was going to forever corrupt his brother, and send him on a path of destruction.

"No…" She whimpered. "No, the future remains unchanged. We are all still doomed to die by either Speed Demon's claws or the hands of the Flash's Son."

Olvida clenched her teeth in frustration. "Damn it all, how can we possibly advert this future the boss' plan will never succeed so long as we are doomed to die."

"Fret not Mindsweeper." Olvida turned to see another one of Godspeed's followers enter the room. Clad in heavy golden armor and white robes with a white hood covering his head, the man before her looked like he belonged either in a Renaissance Fair or standing at the Pearly Gates. "We shall deal with the heretics when the time comes. For the time being we must follow Godspeed's plan as it will take several months to accomplish."

"You know, sometimes your 'Holier than Thou' shtick can get really annoying Lucien."

"Perhaps you would like to challenge me witch? I'll show you why I am the strongest of all of us." Olvida really wanted to wipe that smug look off of this man's face but there was a reason he was the most powerful mainly due to what happened to him when he acquired his speed.

"Maybe some other time Lucien." She gave the man a wave. "For now, we should begin unleashing chaos upon this city."

* * *

 **S.T.A.R. Labs**

Iris walked into S.T.A.R. Labs without looking up from her phone desperate to contact her husband, brother, foster brother and basically sister-in-law. Reports from the fire were saying some unknown speedster showed up on the scene and saved the people from the burning building. A man named Godspeed. Iris was rightfully worried since Ben had warned them about said speedster. But why on this earth was he being a hero? Better question what happened after they all left the scene?

She heard laughter and the sound of the Speedsters' voices form the cortex and a wave of relief washed over her. She beelined into the cortex at speeds that would make those Speed Force Conduits jealous and immediately embraced Eddie with a hug and a passionate kiss.

"Oh, thank God you're OK Eddie…" Iris said "When I heard you all ran off with Godspeed I was so worried."

"We're all fine Iris. In fact, we had some help." Gently Eddie guided Iris over to the man in the white suit. "Iris, this is August Heart. He's an aspiring hero known as Godspeed." Iris' eyes widened in shock. Godspeed was helping them? Wasn't he supposed to be an uber villain from the future hellbent on killing them all?

"Which, despite me not coming up with it, is a pretty cool name if I do say so myself." Cisco pipped in. Iris however had her eyes glued to August Heart as he slowly approached her. She honestly felt like a deer being stalked by a wolf.

"It is a pleasure to meet you Mrs. Thawne." August, or rather Godspeed, held out his hand. Iris looked at it hesitantly before taking it and receiving a strong handshake form the man, which was unusual it felt like he was trying hard to crush her hand and yet hold back while his eyes burrowed into her soul with some kind of deep seeded hatred.

"It's nice to meet you as well August." Iris said behind a forced smile no one noticed. Whoever this guy was she was going to look into him. First, she would have to talk to Ben about him, since he was their Godspeed expert.

"Well August you've shared your identity with us, it's only fair I at least share mine." Barry reached up to remove his cowl but Iris stopped him.

"Flash, are you sure that's such a good Idea?" She asked her foster brother since she was the only one who seemed to think he was a villain.

"Iris, we all have told him our identities and we know his. Trust is a two-way street, especially if he trusts us with his identity then we can trust him with ours." Barry removed his cowl showing August his face. "August, my name is Barry Allen and I am the Fastest Man Alive."

* * *

This is the end of the chapter

Please tell me what you liked, didn't like, look forward to/think will happen, or your general thoughts and comments, this will help me make the story better; I'm a big boy so I can take criticism. And if you Review you get a Shout Out and questions answered either privately or in the next chapter.

 **SEVEN REVIEWS, FAVORITES OR FOLLOWS AND I'LL TRY TO UPDATE IN A WEEK. EVERY TWO OVER THAT AND I'LL DO ONE DAY SOONER.**

 **(i.e. 9 R/F/F = 6-day update)**

Have a Fantastic day


	13. Dive into Ben's Mind

**Disclaimer:** The following is a nonprofit Fan based story; The FLASH and all related characters are owned by DC comics, the CW and anyone I may have missed.

Like I always seem to say to the point of redundancy (doesn't mean it's any less true) I love everyone who Reviews, Favorites and or Follows any of my stories. Again, if I didn't respond I apologize and just let me know.

Reviews: **Master Skywalker 121, Guest, wilsonenmanual43, josephguy217, changingdestiny40,** and **AReiss215**

 **Guest:** How are you lost? Please elaborate so that I might explain it better.

Favorites: **rynmswtng,** and **Dragon's Blaze**

Followers: **rynmswtng, Dragon's Blaze** and **DarkSuspense**

Things will be getting crazy starting in this chapter, new characters introduced and plot lines laid out. If you are confused let me know I'll try and explain it in a non-spoilery way.

* * *

 _The Flash: Survival of the Fastest_

Chapter 12: Dive into Ben's Mind

* * *

 **STAR Labs, Breach Room**

"You sure you can't stay?" Caitlin asked the older Jay Garrick as she gave him a good-bye hug.

"I would love to, but I cannot leave my Earth unprotected." Jay said as he broke the embrace and turned to Barry. "Alright Kid, I'll see you around."

Barry smiled at his Alternate-Father. "See you around Flash."

Jay gave them a smile and a tip of his helmet before taking off into the breach. Once the eldest speedster was gone Barry turned to see Caitlin talking with J'onn, Ben and Alex.

"Listen, before you go Could we well…"

"Dive into my mind." Ben finished as Barry joined them.

"Dive into your mind? What are you guys talking about?" Barry asked.

"We were thinking about having J'onn do some psychic mumbo jumbo in my mind to sort out why I'm having blackouts." Ben explained

"It's not psychic mumbo jumbo. I would be opening your mind for you to sort out your own mind, and I can even send someone into your mind with you." J'onn countered.

"Which is where I come in." Caitlin explained to Barry. "J'onn would send me into Ben's mind to help."

Barry turned to Ben. "And you're OK With this? Caitlin being projected into your mind."

"Yeah," The young speedster said. "I'm honestly no good to anyone if I can slip from reality to fiction at a moment's notice with no recollection when I resurface."

"We had everything all set up in my Lab." Caitlin explained.

Barry ran a hand through his hair. "OK… but I'm doing this with you Cait." Caitlin nodded as Barry turned to Ben. "You are our son after all."

* * *

 **S.T.A.R. Labs, Speed Lab**

Meanwhile Wally stood close by watching August Train while Cisco and Jesse monitored his vitals and energy output.

"Try spinning your arms really fast to create wind vortexes." Wally instructed.

"Um, Ok… What does this accomplish?" August asked.

"Creating these mini tornados will allow you to do a number of things from sucking oxygen from fires to creating cushions of air for falling people." Wally explained.

"Ah," August said as he turned back to the target. He took a deep breath and began to spin his arms. Gold lightning crackled as large cyclones of wind formed from August's arms. The winds he was creating were so intense that it was like a hurricane within the halls of STAR Labs. Everyone had to hold onto something to avoid being blown away.

"AUGUST STOP!" Jesse yelled over the howling winds.

August heard her and stopped spinning his arms allowing the winds to die. He turned to those watching and saw the mess he made. "Did I do that?" He asked.

"Maybe we should take this outside. Cisco suggested.

"I think Cisco might have been right." August sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck.

That was when the Meta-Human alarms went off. "We've got another Meta-Human Alert. What is this the Sixth one this week?"

"Just once It would be nice to get a week off." Wally groaned.

"Jesse and I will handle this, August you're going to observe us as Barry said." Wally ordered and before August could protest the two speedsters were off in flashes of yellow followed shortly behind by the gold of August.

* * *

 **S.T.A.R. Labs Caitlin's Lab**

Caitlin and Barry lay on parallel beds with Ben sitting on a chair between them. An apparatus, similar to the one they used three years ago, when Cisco was having dreams about Dr. Wells killing him, was placed firmly on his head. Ben took a deep breath and leaned back.

"So how does this work?" He asked the Martian.

"I connect their minds to yours which will allow them to enter into your nind and find the source of your blackouts." J'onn explained.

"Well, let's do this." Barry said

With a silent nod J'onn placed a hand on Barry's forehead while the other went to Caitlin's forehead. Ben closed his eyes and breathed as the world around him warped into his mind.

* * *

 **Ben's Mind**

Caitlin's eyes bolted awake as a sharp stream of air flooded into her lungs much as an infant takes their first breath of air when they come into the world. Quickly turning too her right Caitlin saw Barry doing the exact same motion.

"Did it work?" Caitlin asked Barry. A quick scan of the world around them showed a dark and decrepit version of Caitlin's Lab.

"I think it did." Barry replied giving her a smile. "Come on. If this is Ben's mind, then the first thing we should do is find Ben."

It only took them a moment but Barry and Caitlin realized that in Ben's mind they appeared to not have their powers. "No powers here?" Caitlin asked

"Guess not."

"Who are you?" Barry and Caitlin turned to the new voice and found themselves face to face with a person they had never seen before.

She was a beautiful young woman with long slightly curled brown hair and blue eyes. She wore a violet colored blouse and black jeans, underneath a large jacket that was a little too big for her. The jacket seemed old and was a slightly faded brown leather with the name _JORDAN_ emblazoned upon the left breast.

"I'll ask again. Who are you?" the young woman demanded.

Barry and Caitlin exchanged looks before turning to her and Barry spoke. "I'm Sorry Ms. But we're Ben's Parents. We're here to help him."

The young woman stared at them silently. "You should not be here." She said. "You are trying to fix something that has always been a part of him." She turned away from them to leave but was stopped by Caitlin.

"Wait! Please… Ben's our son… we have to help him… please… you seem to know just what is causing his blackouts! Please… we just want to help him…"

"No."

"Then at least tell us who you are… I've been in similar situations and I know that you have to be someone important to Ben!" Barry fired back.

The young woman stopped. "I am just a mental construct of Ben's, representing all he wanted and could not have." Her left hand became enveloped in violet flames. "Now, Get. Out."

A wave of pinkish light washed over Barry and Caitlin swallowing them.

* * *

 **S.T.A.R. Labs, Caitlin's Lab**

Both Barry and Caitlin bolted awake as J'onn was thrown back by the sudden jolt. Ben also was forced awake by the sudden expulsion from his mind.

"What happened?" Kara asked as she helped Caitlin and then Barry sit up. "Did you fix Ben's blackouts?"

"We never got a chance." Caitlin panted

"We… We were thrown out…" Barry said.

"Thrown out? That should be impossible." J'onn said.

Searching for some kind of answer, Barry turned to Ben. "In your mind, we were confronted by a woman."

"A woman?"

"Brown hair, brown leather jacket with the name Jordan on it. Who is she?" Caitlin asked. Something in her gut said she was Ben's girlfriend.

"You're saying you saw Haley in my mind?"

"Is that her name?" Barry asked.

"Her name is Haley Jordan." Ben replied. "I haven't seen her since…" He trailed off.

"Since when?" Kara asked.

"Since she died…" Ben said somberly. Thinking of Haley's death was hard on the young speedster as she was the love of his life. She was brave, loving, kind, everything one could hope for, though her gun hoe attitude and reckless nature scared away many of the boys who sought her love it never frightened Ben, if anything it made him love her more.

Caitlin looked at Ben full of understanding, the way he looked and reacted was a dead givaway. She had gone through a similar phase when she thought Ronnie died in the Particle Accelerator Explosion all those years ago. "Are you OK Ben? Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not really…" Ben said. "It was a long time ago… from now… One of Speed Demon's attempts to get to me…" Ben looked down at his right arm and clenched his fist.

"Um… am I interrupting Something?" Everyone turned to see Iris entering into the Lab.

"Hey Iris, what's up?" Barry asked a little worried. Ever since They had met August yesterday Iris has been keeping her distance from all of them at S.T.A.R. Labs, it was honestly a little strange for Barry and company to say the least.

"Well, nothing really… I just wanted to talk with Ben."

"What me?" Ben was equally confused as the rest of his compatriots around him.

"Yes, do you have a few minutes?"

Ben looked to his parents and then to Kara, Alex and J'onn almost as if he was looking for their permission. "You guys don't mind if I go, right?"

"Sure," Barry gave his son a smile.

"Ok…" Ben got up and walked over to Iris. "So, what was it you wanted to talk about?" Iris grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the Lab and towards the exit of S.T.A.R. Labs.

"Not here, what I need to ask you is something I need to ask in private. And right now, you're the only one who might have answers."

* * *

 **S.T.A.R. Labs Cortex**

Wally, Jesse and August flashed back into the cortex of STAR Labs. The Meta-Human alert they assessed was actually a false alarm. The three Speedsters arrived on the scene just in time to witness three robbers exiting a bank with duffle bags of cash as if they couldn't get any more cliché.

"Well, that was fun." August joked "I know I just watched you round them up but man was that cool." He complimented Wally.

"Thanks man, maybe we can talk to Barry about having you actually helping us out in the field."

August smiled before feeling his phone go off. "Excuse me." He answered it. "This is Detective Heart. I see. OK I'll be right there."

"Who was that?" Jesse asked.

"Captain Singh." August replied. "They found several bodies floating in the river, and they need All hands-on deck for it."

"Why?"

"Central City might have a serial killer on the loose."

* * *

 **Star City, Unknown Location**

Oliver Queen, the mayor of Star City, woke up in an unfamiliar room. There was nothing out of the ordinary with the room. He was laying on a comfortable bed and aside from the barren walls the room was not that bad.

" _ **Welcome back Mr. Queen."**_ Oliver's attention snapped to the doorway where he saw a woman. She was clad all in black leather while wearing a black hood. Her long black hair framed her face from beneath her hood but her mask made it difficult to discern who she was especially with the lenses covering her eyes. Her shoulders, forearms and legs were covered in dark green material that looked black in the lack of light and greatly resembled armor. Hooked to her left hip was a quiver filled with two dozen arrows she also had a second quiver filled with another two dozen arrows on her right shoulder along with a compound recurve bow. " _ **I hope you don't find your accommodations… comfortable."**_ She was using a voice modulator whoever she was.

"Who are you?" Oliver asked panicked.

" _ **You can call me…The Black Arrow**_." The woman known as Black Arrow introduced herself. " _ **And I am here because you have failed your city!"**_ She drew her bow and nocked and arrow before losing it right next to his left ear.

"ARE YOU CRAZY?!" Oliver screamed.

" _ **I am not**_."She nocked another arrow. " _ **I spent close to a decade in Hell Mr. Queen. However, unlike you I can never forget it overnight**_!" She released it this time barely missing his right ear. " _ **You need to wake up! This city needs the Green Arrow**_!"

* * *

 **Central City Jitters**

"One Dark Roast Coffee with cream no sugar, and one Hot Chocolate for me." Ben announced as he handed a drink to Iris.

"Thank you, Ben." Iris said cheerfully as she took a sip of her coffee. "This is nice." She said smiling at her future nephew. If Iris were being honest with herself she really wanted to know more about him. She was his aunt, it was her job to practically spoil him rotten.

"Yeah," Ben said smiling. "I must admit in the last few days I've been here I might not have been spending much time with anyone outside my mom and dad."

"I have to ask, if Barry and Caitlin are your parents why don't you drink Coffee?"

"Simple really," Ben took a sip of his hot chocolate. "Coffee tastes terrible, I have a simple rule when it comes to food. If I don't like the taste I don't eat or drink it, same thing applies to Alcohol, even though it has no effect on me. Also, I have never needed caffeine to wake up in the morning so…yeah."

It was a fair enough explanation so Iris figured she should move on to the main "Well, I was wondering if you could help me out." Iris reached into her purse and pulled out a small note pad.

"Uh, is this an interview?" Ben asked. "Because I am not very good with any form of speaking. I once had to give a five-minute speech but I rambled for twenty minutes."

"No, this isn't an interview." Iris said. "I'm just having trouble wrapping my head around a few things."

"Such as?"

"Well, when you first arrived you said you were here to help Barry deal with a speedster, what was his name again?"

Ben took a sip of his hot chocolate. "His name is Lightspeed." That caught Iris off guard a little.

"Lightspeed? I thought you said his name was Godspeed?"

"August!? Why would I want my parents to fight August? As a matter of fact, why would August try and kill my parents? August is like the big brother I never had." Ben didn't know it but he was getting defensive.

Iris, not wanting the word to get back to August that she might be on to him. "I'm sorry Ben, I just misheard you earlier that's all."

Ben's expression softened a little. "Oh, that makes sense. Sorry If I got a little mad back there."

"It's OK Ben," Iris gave her nephew a smile which he returned. Something definitely happened the other day when everyone went after Godspeed and Speed Demon. Everyone seemed to think August was a friend, but Iris, after their experience with Harrison Wells being a Speedster named Eobard Thawne, and Jay Garrick, or rather Hunter Zolomon, actually being the villainous Zoom and Future-Barry, knew better than to blindly trust someone. "Oh, I am going to be late." Iris quickly began to shove her things into her purse while pulling out tip money.

"Late? Late for what?" Ben asked

"I've got a meeting with my two interns. Their names are Derick and Daphne North, in case you were wondering."

"Well, they sound… nice." Ben said a little weary, their names sounded familiar but he couldn't remember where he had heard them.

"Yeah, but for the life of me they seem to follow me everywhere." Ben turned Iris.

"Iris, you should be careful." Ben warned. "I'm no expert but there might be something more to it if they are following you everywhere."

* * *

 **Central City Water Front**

Captain Singh was getting rather frustrated as of late. It seemed like there was a new crime every day instead of once a week, and to top it all of his CSI was still MIA. Four bodies were found had been found and finding their identities would prove to be a true challenge. Whoever the killer was they stripped their victims of everything leaving their naked corpses floating in the river, and on top of that their fingers had been removed along with their heads. So here the police captain was four mutilated bodies with no traditional way of identifying them.

"It's no good Captain" Joe said as he strode up to his friend. "We have no way to identify any of these bodies."

"Did the coroner determine a cause and time of death?"

"Not yet, only thing he is certain of is the fact that they were killed and then moved postmortem."

"Actually Detective, I believe I have a theory about the cause of death." The coroner waved over Joe and Captain Singh and the two senior officers joined the medical examiner. The ME drew back the covering on one of the bodies exposing the butchered neck. "See the cuts? They lead me to believe that cause of death was in fact decapitation. And you can tell by the jagged nature of the cuts that this was not quick and painless. However, there are signs of bruising around the neck which indicates asphyxiation."

"They were strangled?"

"My best guess the killer used a garrote. However, the killer must also be very strong to apply enough pressure to use a garrote to decapitate a human. I'd say we are most definitely looking for a male, maybe six-foot two, and at least three hundred pounds of muscle." The ME surmised.

To say Joe and Captain Singh were impressed would be an understatement. The Coroner, with very limited information available was able to discern cause of death and a potential suspect with hardly any evidence. "That's good work Dr. Steloogy."

"Please Captain, I believe I told you to call me by my nickname, Bones." Dr. Steloogy chuckled.

Joe chuckled as he thought back to when Dr. Steloogy joined the police department over a decade ago. Turns out the older man suffers from Brittle Bone Disease Type 1, not that that stopped him from serving in the Gulf War as an Evac. Pilot. He got the nickname Bones from his friends in the medical ward because he was breaking his bones so very often.

"There's one more thing," He caught their attention again. "whomever killed these men, wanted them to suffer." Bones said.

"Thanks Bones." Captain Singh said. "If you find anything else send it to Allen."

* * *

 **Central City Police Department**

Barry was busy working in his lab on the samples Dr. Steloogy had sent up to him. There was honestly not a lot of forensic evidence for him to process as most of it was destroyed, meaning Barry's job was made much harder. There was something about every crime scene Barry was called to, simply it meant he wasn't fast enough to save the victims, but as Jay had once taught him he wasn't a god which meant for every person he saved there was most definitely going to be someone he and his team couldn't save.

"So, you always make that face when you run into a cold case?" Barry turned to see August entering into his lab alongside Ben. Barry could tell Ben and August were going to be close, almost like brothers.

"It's not a cold case." Barry said turning back to the evidence at hand. "I don't leave cold cases open."

August picked up one of the crime scene photos. "Honestly this looks pretty brutal."

Ben looked over August's shoulder and noticed something in the photo. "Hey, Barry, did you see this?"

"See what?"

"Body number three, see that burn mark on his lower right abdomen?" August and Barry nodded. "Look closely and you can see a little bit of black, like ink."

"A tattoo." Barry smiled. This was actually some solid evidence they could use. "Nice work Ben."

* * *

 **October 8 2017**

 **Star City Mayor's Office**

Star City was in chaos. Mayor Queen was missing and no one had heard from him in several days. Felicity Smoak, his secretary had reported his disappearance almost as soon as it happened, during his meeting with Sasha King. The police began to dig extensively into Sasha King only to discover she does not exist, or rather she does and she's just a five-month-old babe living in Gateway City.

In this time of crisis Quentin Lance, the deputy mayor had to step up and with the help of his daughter District Attorney Dinah Laurel Lance Queen.

"Keep searching for the Mayor!" Lance ordered. As a former cop, Lance knew how long it normally took for police to abandon the search for missing persons, he'd be damned if they gave up on their mayor and his son-in-law.

"Quentin… I'm sorry but I cannot spare the men to continuously search for the mayor." Police Captain Pike responded to his old friend.

"Damn it Pike! The mayor has been kidnapped! We have to find him!"

"Sir, I know Mr. Queen is also your son in law but you need to be reasonable. You know as well as I that the longer he remains missing the less likely it will be that we find him." Pike said "Right now, whether you like it or not, the city needs you to step up and be its leader."

Quentin ran a hand through his short hair. How was he supposed to be acting mayor? Maybe he should let Laurel run the city for the time being. Honestly, he was better at being a cop and fixing broken things than keeping working things in order.

"Look Quentin, I can keep my men searching for Mr. Queen for a week at the most. But after that, you will be the mayor of Star City." Saying goodbye to his old friend Captain Pike left the office leaving Quentin alone.

"Damn it Oliver… where the Hell are you?"

* * *

 **Stratosphere**

Kara flew through the air of Earth-Prime feeling free. The last two times she had come to Barry's Earth she hadn't seen much of it; how different it was from her Earth. While most of it looked the same there were some differences that she noticed but all in all it was exactly the same. Maybe when they finished helping Barry with whatever it was he and his friends could come to her earth and help them deal with this new space tyrant coming for her, her cousin and J'onn. Part of her wondered if this reality had a Krypton, if that were the case she could potentially see her parents again.

"Halt!" Kara heard a voice and she stopped in midair and turned around to see a face she was not expecting to see. Floating in the air surrounded in a green light was her boyfriend.

"Mon-El?"

"Who the hell is Mon-El?" Not-Mon-El said. "My name is Sodam Yat, I am the Green Lantern of Sector 1760, you sector Kryptonian. You are under arrest on the charges of planetary invasion." Not-Mon-El aimed his right hand at Supergirl and fired a blast of green light from the ring on his finger.

* * *

 **Iron Heights Prison, Central City**

Caitlin deposited her phone and wallet into the tray at the front desk before being led into a secure section of Iron Heights Prison. Caitlin ignored the whistles and calls she got from the male inmates as she was led to the cell she found herself visiting much more often than she ever thought she would. Entering the secluded room Caitlin felt the temperature drop several degrees.

In the center of the room was a large glass cell, much like the ones used to hold other inmates, specifically Meta-Humans. In the cell was a woman with white hair and pale skin and icy blue eyes. She was a woman Caitlin knew all too well.

Caitlin sat down in the seat facing the glass and picked up the phone on her end. "Hello mom." she said.

Carla Tanhauser, or rather Killer Frost as she was unfortunately known turned to her daughter and smiled. She took a seat opposite of Caitlin and picked up her own phone. "Hello Caitlin."

Mother and daughter sat across from each other, an inch of Meta-Human-Proof Glass separated them. Last Year, most likely due to Barry's tampering with the timeline, Caitlin's mother had developed meta-human powers which was odd considering she wasn't in Central City when the Particle Accelerator went off. This reinforced Cisco's earlier theory that, since the blast was not contained the effects were much more far reaching than they initially thought.

"How's it going?" Caitlin asked. These conversations between mother and daughter were strange to say the least. Thanks to Joe's connections they managed to keep the new Killer Frost's identity tightly sealed and per Dr. Tanhauser's instructions Caitlin was running her company as a proxy.

Unlike the other inmates Caitlin's mother was in here not only for her protection but so Caitlin could work to find a way to reverse her transformation.

"Food's fine but the service is lousy." Carla joked.

"I'm still searching for a way to reverse this mom." Caitlin said as she placed a hand on the cold glass. "I promised you I would help you."

"Caitlin…" Her mother mirrored her motion and placed her own hand across from her daughter's. "As much as I would love to be normal and for us to be a proper family again it just seems like that will never be the case. You have your whole life a head of you and I cannot in good conscious stunt you with my own problems."

"I can't just give up on this mom. I won't."

Carla smiled at her daughter. "I know you won't give up. My sweet little girl never gives up no matter how insurmountable the odds." Caitlin felt a small tear well up in her eye. "Now, I believe last time you were here you mentioned you now have a boyfriend."

Caitlin blushed a little and Carla smiled. She was happy for her daughter, after suffering through so much crap; Her father, and her old fiancé's death along with what has happened to her, Caitlin deserved happiness, and this Barry fellow was certainly making her happy.

"Well, tonight is date night." Caitlin started. She began telling her mother all about Barry.

* * *

 **Barry and Caitlin's Apartment, Central City**

Back in Central City, The Flash was on his way to the apartment he shared with Caitlin Snow. Today was date night for Barry and Caitlin. When they decided to start dating it was Barry's idea for them to for out to dinner once a week on Sundays. It was also his idea to utilize Sundays as their day off, there were four permanent speedsters operating out of Central City, every one of them deserved a day off once a week.

Barry had flashed from the police department to a tailor to pick up a new suit before running to a florist and purchasing a bouquet of roses. Between the two of them Barry always went big with date night; picnics in the park, horse drawn carriage rides, reservations at some of the best restaurants in Central City.

Tonight, Barry wanted it to be extra special. Yesterday he went to the bank and took out the ring he had inherited from his great-grandfather. Barry was having serious thoughts about proposing to Dr. Caitlin Snow, and while normally he would be asking her Father that was not an option for him. Part of him thought he should be asking Ronnie's permission since he was Caitlin's fiance three years ago. Understandably nervous Barry fumbled with the ring in his pocket as he walked up to the door.

"Caitlin? You here?" He called as he entered their apartment.

"I'm in the bathroom Barry!" Caitlin called back "I am almost ready, just give me three minutes!"

Barry smiled and sat down on their couch. Exactly three minutes later Caitlin came out of the bathroom wearing a autumn colored dress, perfectly matching the red bow tie Barry was wearing. Her auburn locked were slightly curled and flowed freely past her shoulders as she gave Barry a smile.

"Hey you." He stood up and met her with a kiss.

"So, Mr. Allen what do we have planned for this week's date night?"

"Well, I got us reservation at a lovely little restaurant known as Amore Del Mare." Caitlin gasped a little since that was one of the most difficult restaurants to get a reservation for. "And then I thought we go for an open carriage ride through the park before coming back here to watch a movie or two."

"Oh? Did you have any particular movie in mind?" Caitlin asked.

"I was thinking _Beauty and the Beast_."

"Which one? Animated or Live Action?"

"Both." Barry pulled both versions of the movie out from behind his back. "I was thinking we could watch both then spend the rest of the night comparing the two and discussing which is better."

"Aw" Caitlin swooned. "That's sweet of you."

Barry held out an arm for her. "Come on, we're going to be late for our reservation."

They took a cab and arrived at Amore Del Mare with a few minutes to spare. Barry tipped the driver before he and Caitlin entered the restaurant and were guided to their table by the hostess. The two speedsters had a lovely evening chatting about the latest scientific discoveries in chemistry, forensics and biology.

"I'm sorry to bring this up Cait but what're your thoughts on Ben?" Barry asked somewhat out of the blue.

"Hm?" Caitlin looked up from her dinner. "Ben? I think he's great Barry."

"I mean, doesn't it feel like he's hiding something from us?" Barry asked. "I mean, J'onn cannot read Ben's mind and when we ask him about Haley he just shuts down. He won't tell us anything about her."

"Call it mother's intuition or a sense of understanding, but I feel like I know why Ben doesn't want to talk about her." She reached across the table to take Barry's had. "Trust me Barry, when he wants to talk about it he'll tell us." She gave her boyfriend a smile. "Well, on that note, How're things going with August?"

"Great, Joe got him a job as a detective at CCPD as his new partner. He seems to be good at it. He's one of the few detectives aside from Joe who actually hangs out with me and Julian. In terms of his other activities" Barry gave a quick glance around. "He's progressing very quickly, much faster than either Wally or I. It's really quite impressive."

"Pardon me," the waiter announced as he stood over their table with a bottle of red wine. "Would either of you like a refill?" Before Barry or Caitlin could respond someone brushed past the waiter roughly. The man lost his balance and spilled the red wine all over the table. Barry and Caitlin immediately jumped up to avoid the red liquid.

"Oh! I am so sorry!" Immediately the waiter pulled out his cleaning cloth and began to soak up the spilled Wine. Barry tried to help him out but before he could someone came up behind both Barry and Caitlin. He was so quite the speedsters did not know he was there until his cold breath sent shivers down their spines.

" _ **Don't trust anything he says.**_ " His cold voice whispered into their ears accompanied by the familiar sound of vibrating vocal cords.

They whirled around just in time to catch a flicker of red flames around the doorway but the man was gone.

* * *

This is the end of the chapter

Please tell me what you liked, didn't like, look forward to/think will happen, or your general thoughts and comments, this will help me make the story better; I'm a big boy so I can take criticism. And if you Review you get a Shout Out and questions answered either privately or in the next chapter.

 **SEVEN REVIEWS, FAVORITES OR FOLLOWS AND I'LL TRY TO UPDATE IN A WEEK. EVERY TWO OVER THAT AND I'LL DO ONE DAY SOONER.**

 **(i.e. 9 R/F/F = 6-day update)**

Have a Fantastic day


	14. The Trial of Kara Zor-El

**Disclaimer:** The following is a nonprofit Fan based story; The FLASH and all related characters are owned by DC comics, the CW and anyone I may have missed.

Like I always seem to say to the point of redundancy (doesn't mean it's any less true) I love everyone who Reviews, Favorites and or Follows any of my stories. Again, if I didn't respond I apologize and just let me know.

Reviews: **AReiss215, wilsonemanual43, changingdestiny40, Galpalcj, Guest** and **Darkness 032**

 **Guest:** You're welcome for clearing some of your concerns with August up.

 **Darkness 032:** Good, you are thinking. That's what I want people to do. Think and hypothesize what could possibly happen.

Favorites: **kaitenglory, CallMeMiles, speedster013,** and **Catcher456**

Followers: **kaitenglory, CallMeMiles, speedster013,** and **Catcher456**

OK Flash Season 3 is doing nothing but piss me off which I hate. Their is honestly nothing the show can do now that will reinvigorate my faith because I have a feeling that by the end of the following episode will undo what ever it is they do. And No one talk about those set photos that showed up about a week ago. I've seen them and don't like them Either way we are continuing this story. I just wish I had more time to write and post more frequently.

* * *

 _The Flash: Survival of the Fastest_

Chapter 13: The Trial of Kara Zor-El

* * *

 **Barry and Caitlin's Apartment**

After the disastrous dinner, Barry and Caitlin reentered their apartment. Well, it wasn't a complete disaster, because wine was spilt on them they ended up getting a free meal out of it.

"I'm sorry tonight didn't go exactly as planned." Caitlin said

"That's OK… I'm just glad to spend time with you." Caitlin smiled before leaning in to kiss Barry. "We can still watch Beauty and the Beast if you want."

Caitlin shook her head as she guided him to the couch. "I'm fine with just sitting and talking."

Barry could tell something was bothering her. "You're thinking about that voice aren't you."

"'Don't trust anything he says…'" Caitlin repeated the words they had heard earlier. "What could that possibly mean."

"Cait, I would say we should ignore it but the fact we both heard those words at the same time takes away any possibility of it being coincidental." Caitlin leaned into Barry's shoulder.

Someone was trying to warn them about something or rather someone. But who were they and what were they trying to warn them of? Was someone lying to them? Why? Too many questions ran through their minds and there were no answers in sight.

Slowly Caitlin drifted off to sleep. Barry leaned down and kissed her forehead before carrying her to their bed. In a flash of lightning he changed her into her pajamas before following suit. He smiled at the doctor's sleeping form. Barry wished tonight went better, he would have most definitely proposed, but at the same time he was glad he didn't. It was the same thing with Iris years ago. The Universe seemed to be telling them Iris and Barry were destined to be together. They were married on Earth-2 and supposedly supposed to get married in the future. Yet here they were forging their own destinies. Ben was proof that Barry and Caitlin will work. He will propose to her one day, hopefully soon.

* * *

 **The Next Day**

 **S.T.A.R. Labs, Cortex**

"Has anyone seen Kara?" Alex asked as Barry and Caitlin walked into the Cortex.

"No, we haven't seen her." Barry said a little worried. "Last I heard she was going to go flying."

"Yes, that was yesterday." J'onn said. "I already flew around the city several times looking for her but I can't find her anywhere."

"I also rigged the S.T.A.R. Labs Satellites to look for dead zones unique to people from Earth-38, which says she's in the upper stratosphere but then she just up and vanished." Cisco added.

"She couldn't have just vanished." Caitlin argued. "We sure she didn't go back to Earth-38?"

Cisco shook his head. "Without a Speedster, myself or the inter-dimensional-extrapolator she can't go to another reality."

"And Kara wouldn't just fly off into space without telling us." Alex added before anyone could bring up the argument.

"She can survive in Space?" Cisco asked "That is so cool!" This got him a look from J'onn and Alex as it wasn't the time for geeking out about what Kara could do. "Uh, we'll look into that later. Right now, we need to find her."

"Did you try vibing her Cisco?" Caitlin asked.

"Unfortunately, without some kind of personal item I can't locate her." That gave Alex an Idea.

"Kara's glasses!" Team Flash turned to Supergirl's sister. "You could use Kara's glasses, right?"

"I should." Alex fished Kara's glasses out of her pocket and handed them to Cisco. Vibe was about to look for his goggles only for Barry to hand them to him

"I already set your goggles to the frequency of Earth-38." Barry said as he handed them to Cisco.

Cisco smirked as he put his goggles on and got ready to activate his powers. "Alright Kara, we'll find you no matter where you are." Vibe activated his powers and the world around him shifted.

 _Cisco found himself standing in a strange environment. Hundreds of greenish cells lined the walls of a seemingly endless chasm. Behind the green glass were hordes of horrific creatures of varying builds. Some had scales, some had skin some had fangs or even multiple heads and limbs. Some of the beasts roared._

" _This is freaky." Said to himself. He looked around, he was standing on a floating platform over the bottomless abyss. Continuing to look around Cisco saw Kara behind one of the glass walls. "Kara…"_

 _Another figure was in front of Supergirl, he looked an exactly like Mon-El except for the different costume. It was green and black with white gloves, nearly identical to the others wearing similar suits._

" _Hey Yat." Mon-El's doppelgänger turned around to see another man in a similar suit with thick brown hair and a green domino mask like Oliver but his eyes had green irises and white pupils. "What the hell were you doing in my sector?"_

" _Apprehending a wanted criminal." Yat replied rather nonchalantly. "Remember? She's wanted on four accounts of genocide and two accounts of planetary conquest."_

" _Look I know you're pissed Yat about what the Kryptonians did to your world, but there's no way this girl is Kara Zor-El, she's too young."_

" _Scans indicate otherwise." Yat replied. "She is Kara Zor-El of Krypton."_

Cisco came out of his vibe to the worried looks of Alex, J'onn, Caitlin and Barry.

"What did you see Cisco?" Alex asked.

"I saw Kara, she's in some kind of prison full of monsters."

"Monsters?" J'onn asked

"Yeah, and there was a lot of green. And one of the guards looked like Mon-El, but it was definitely not him." Cisco said. "A doppelgänger maybe? Whoever they are they were looking for the Kara of this reality."

"They arrested my sister because they thought she was her doppelgänger?"

"Sounds like it."

"Anything else you can tell us about these green men?"

"I didn't see anything else."

"Maybe Layla can help us out." Barry said. "ARGUS deals with all sorts of strange things."

* * *

 **Central City**

Ben and August were running around Central City out on patrol. So far there was nothing out of the ordinary, which was a nice change of pace since there had been a new crime seemingly every day.

"You see anything August?" Ben asked.

"Nothing." Godspeed replied as they stopped in the middle of the street. "Looks like it'll be a calm day today."

"Hey, August, I know you've just come to town but I have to say its great having you around."

"Yeah, this has been fun." August replied.

"I have to ask, why Central City?" Ben asked

August paused and thought for a moment. "I'm just looking for my kid brother."

"Brother? I didn't know you had a brother." Ben was quite surprised. As far as he knew August never mentioned having a brother, but then again this is a younger version of his friend.

"It's kind of why I'm working for the police department, so far I've been unable to find him."

"Hey man, I can help you find him if you want."

"Thanks Ben, you don't know how much that means to me." August said smiling beneath his mask.

"So what can you tell me about your brother?"

"Not much, he's about three years younger than me. We were both placed into foster care after our mom died and before we knew it we were adopted into different families."

"Damn… I'm sorry man…" Ben sighed.

"Look, you have nothing to do with this. You don't have to help me if you don't want to."

" _Ben! August! You guys there?"_ Jesse's voice came through the coms.

"We read you Jesse." August responded.

" _Getting calls about a crazy woman warping the earth on the edge of the city, want to check it out?_ "

"We're on it Jesse. Will we see you there?"

" _Wally and I have to head over to Ketystone, Eddie is calling us for help. We'll try to be there as soon as we can."_

* * *

 **Space Sector 0000, Planet Oa**

For what felt like a month Kara Zor-El of krypton found herself locked up in a green cell. She constantly told these Green Lanterns that she wasn't a criminal or even from this reality, but they refused to believe her.

It turns out in this reality Krypton was a lot more militaristic than her Krypton because General Dru-Zod had led a coup against the Kyrptonian government.

Under Zod, the Kryptonians used their advanced technology to conquer worlds, exterminating populations, striping them completely of their resources and then terraforming them. Turns out the Kal-El and Kara Zor-El of Earth Prime never left Krypton as it was not destroyed in the Earth Year 1979.

Sodam Yat, the Mon El of This reality, was the one who destroyed Krypton, to save the universe from the tyranny of the Kryptonians. Using the power of his newly acquired ring, Sodam Yat rose up against the kryptonians leading the Daxamites in revolt. Sodam Yat ended the threat of Krypton by forcing Krypton's sun, Rao, to go supernova swallowing the planet in a mighty explosion of fire and light.

Only a few Kryptonians escaped the solar holocaust, among them were Kal-El and Kara Zor-El, who made it their mission to find other worlds to conquer and terraform into a new Krypton.

Kara leaned against her cell wall wishing she had access to her powers, but these cells were specifically designed to neutralize her powers.

"Prisoner 5-252-1959, Zor-El, Kara." Kara looked up to see Not-Mon-El standing on the other side of her cell. "The time has come for your trial."

Clad in green chains Kara was led into a chamber where a dozen small blue skinned humanoid aliens hovered off the ground.

There was also another man in the chamber, young and handsome he looked to be roughly Oliver's age. He wore an outfit similar to Sodam Yat's but he also wore a green domino mask. He looked to Kara then back to the blue aliens.

"Are you guys serious? She's a kid." The man said.

"This is Kara Zor-El." Sodam Yat argued. "She's a fugitive from my Sector."

"And you came to my sector to apprehend her." The other man replied

"Silence Lanterns!" Both men stopped and looked up to the little blue men. "While it is true Lantern Yat apprehended the fugitive in question outside his jurisdiction He still acted and brought in one of the universe's most wanted fugitives."

"Hey!" Kara yelled a little fed up that they were placing her on trial and yet ignoring her. "Look, I don't know what you think I did but I'm not the person you think I am!"

"But perhaps Lantern Jordan is correct." One of the blue men said. "She was apprehended in Space Sector 2814, and while she shares the exact same genetic sequence as Kara Zor-El she does not match any known image."

"Thanks for backing me up Ganthet." The Lantern known as Jordan said rather nonchalantly almost as if he was speaking to a friend rather than a superior.

"Look, I'm not from this reality." Kara began to explain. "I'm from a parallel-"

"Interdimensional Travel!?" One of the blue women gawked. "She is a threat!"

"What!? No!" Kara pleaded. "I'm not invading or anything!"

"See! She lies just like the rest of those Kryptonian Bastards!" Yat yelled out

"Would you all just shut up and let her explain!" Jordan yelled back.

"Lantern Jordan is correct." The blue man named Ganthet said "While this is Kara Zor-El, this may not be out version of Kara Zor-El. Let us hear what she has to say. What say you fellow Guardians?"

"Agreed." Half of the Guardians said in unison. The other half remained silent and Ganthet smiled since he was the one that broke the tie.

* * *

 **Space Sector 2814, Planet Earth, Star City**

Laurel Lance paced back and forth in her husband's office. Oliver had been missing for far too long. Her father and Captain Pike were doing everything they could to look for Oliver but there had been nothing and the window for finding him was closing. Absentmindedly she played with the ring on her left hand. Thinking back to when Oliver proposed to her nearly ten years ago.

"Has it really been that long?" She wondered. She looked up from her ring and out the window. "Oliver and I have been married for nearly ten years."

" _ **No, it has not**_." A gravely deep voice spoke right in Laurel's ears sending shivers down her spine.

"WHO?!" She whirled around startling Quentin as he walked in.

"What's the matter Laruel? You nearly gave me a heart attack."

Laurel just stared at her father. That voice was most definitely not her Father's, and what did it mean by her and Oliver not being married?

" _ **If you want answers come to Queen Mansion.**_ " The voice said again.

"Did you hear that?" Laurel asked unnerved.

"Hear what?" Quentin asked. "Laurel I didn't say anything."

* * *

 **Star City, Queen Mansion**

On the other side of the city a lone figure sat on the stairs of the old building. It had been vacant ever since the death of Moira Queen. Despite her leaving it to Oliver and Thea Queen it had been taken over by Queen Consolidated then by extension Palmer Tech. No one has actually lived here for years.

"I'll be waiting for you, Black Siren." The figure said as if she could hear him on the other side of the city.

* * *

 **Star City, A.R.G.U.S. Headquarters**

Lyla Michaels sat across from a man she did not know. Hank Henshaw stood across from her with his arms folded across his chest. This man came out of nowhere and was demanding access to one of the extra-terrestrial ships they had in storage.

"Let me get this straight, you, a man who I have never heard of nor has any sort of record and who is also a part of an organization that does not exist, are demanding that I hand over an extraterrestrial space ship."

"That's right." Henshaw said

"Lyla, come on you know me." The Hispanic young man next to Henshaw said.

"Look I have no clue who either of you are or how you managed to get into A.R.G.U.S." Subtly she hit a button on the underside of her desk. "But I'm going to ask you to leave or I will be forced to remove you less kindly."

Henshaw didn't look too intimidated by her threat and instead turned to the Hispanic young man. "I do not think A.R.G.U.S. will be cooperating Mr. Ramone."

"Without that ship how are we going to reach Kara?"

"I have an Idea, but it requires us to return to our Earth." Henshaw then turned to Lyla and his eyes turned red and a moment later Lyla was sitting alone in her office with no recollection of what had just transpired.

* * *

 **Central City, S.T.A.R. Labs**

A breach opened up in the STAR Labs Breach room and both J'onn and Cisco jumped out. Turns out ARGUS was not in the 'Let's help Strangers out' mood. If it weren't for J'onn's ability to feel the minds of the ARGUS Agents they would have been surrounded and probably captured by people they considered allies but now, just like Team Arrow, didn't know who they were.

"That could have gone better." Cisco said

"No time for rest Mr. Ramone. We need to return to Earth-38."

Alright." Cisco held up his hand and opened a breach to Earth-38. "One doorway to Earth-38 coming right up. Before we go what exactly are we going to your reality for exactly?"

"A Transmatter Portal." J'onn said. "It'll allow us to connect two points in Space allowing me to get in and rescue Kara."

"yeah so why can't I just open a breach to her?"

"Because, despite it looking like a habitable world there is a chance the world Kara is on has no atmosphere."

"And If I connected a breach, which is a two-way door, Earth's Atmosphere could be ejected into the abyss of space." Cisco nodded in understanding. "Got it."

* * *

 **Central City**

Ben and August came to a stop in the middle of the street. They had gotten a call about another Meta-Human popping up, which at this point was getting rather annoying since it was so frequent.

This time it was a meta-human who had the ability to manipulate stone. Aside from her crazy abilities she was actually quite attractive with her torn green leather jacket and black jeans. He long brown hair waved wildly as she raised her hands. Dozens of stone shards jutted out all over her body, almost as if they were fused with her down to the bone.

"Hey!" She turned to August and Ben only for them to rush her. She dropped to the ground and placed her hands on the ground just before a wall of earth burst from the street. Ben and August both flipped at the last second before they smashed into a wall of concrete.

"Well, I didn't see that happening." Ben said.

"Where's the Flash?" The woman demanded. "I didn't sign up to fight two nobodies!"

Ben turned to August and shrugged. "Now that's just hurtful." Godspeed said. "I'll have you know we are-" Godspeed was cut off by a massive stone fist erupting from the ground and slamming into his solo plexus.

"Shit! Godspeed!" Ben turned back to the woman to see her levitating off the ground atop a swirling mass of stones/asphalt and concrete. "Crap…" Ben vibrated his body just in the nick of time to avoid a wave of rocks. The instant that her attack ceased Ben rushed in with a supersonic punch.

Pillars of earth erupted around her to form a protective shell. Ben hit the rock and felt every bone in his arm crack. Before he could pull away the surely broken limb shards shot out of the wall and embedded themselves into Ben's arm.

Ben fell to his knees clutching his arm in pain. Broken bones, pierces skin and muscles. Yeah, even with the Speed Force this will take a while to heal from.

"I wanted the Flash." The woman said. "I'll just have to settle for the store brand version."

There was a crack of thunder as a lightning bolt raced past Ben and slipped between the earth pillars surrounding the woman, hitting her in the chest. The stone collapsed back into the earth as she fell to the ground.

"You OK?" Ben turned to see August close by.

"Did you just hit her with lightning?"

"Uh, yeah." August replied.

"When'd you learn to do that?" Ben asked, but August never got to respond.

The woman got back to her feet and screamed as she collected stone around her right hand before punching the earth unleashing a small tremor that moved the earth as if it were water.

Ben and August were thrown back as destruction swept across the roads. Before they could do anything else they felt a sudden pain as shards of earth pierced into their legs immobilizing them.

"Argh." They clutched their legs in pain trying to free themselves but even vibrating was proving to be difficult.

The woman smirked sadistically. "I've been told that hurts."

Before she could do anything else yellow and blue lighting crisscrossed over her and the woman found a pair of power-dampening cuffs slapped onto her wrists.

"What?"

"That's enough out of you." She looked up to see The Flash and the female Flash standing over her.

Caitlin made her way over to Ben and August. "Are you two OK?"

"Other than the rocks sticking out of my leg I am fine." Ben joked.

"Let's get you two back to the lab." Caitlin helped ben and August to their feet before running back to the lab with them.

Barry turned back to the cuffed woman and hoisted her up. "Look, I don't know what you're trying to accomplish by wrecking everything you see."

"Let the lady go Flash." Barry heard a new voice. He turned around to see a man clad in ornate golden armor while also wearing a white robe and hood. Barry had to shield his eyes from the bright light emanating from the man's face.

"Who are you supposed to be?"

The man placed a hand over his heart. "I am the light that is holy. Nightmare to you Flash. And now I will be giving you to the count of three to release her. One…" There was a blinding yellow/gold light forcing Barry to shield his eyes once more. This guy seemed to have abilities similar to Dr. Light, only much more intense. "Two…"

The light seemingly shifted to Barry's left covering the right side of his body in shadows. With the limited vision he possessed, Barry could see the mysterious man swinging his left leg dangerously close to Barry's side.

"Three." The man said callously as his leg connected with The Flash's ribs.

There was a thunderous boom as Barry felt himself being rocketed at speeds he's never reached before. The impact with the first wall was the most painful to the point Barry was positive he briefly lost consciousness. Thinking quickly, Barry began to vibrate his entire body, though not fast enough to avoid several support beams and a second wall. Managed to hold the vibrations long enough to phase through several more buildings before impacting the ground hard.

Barry felt as if every one of his bones had been broken and his muscles had been torn apart. Just who was this man?

" _ **So, Flash, how did it feel to be kicked at the speed of light**_?" Through strained vision Barry saw the man standing over him. Mocking the hero because of how easily he trounced him.

Barry was so broken he couldn't speak or even formulate a response. " _ **Quite a shame really Flash. You were built up as this uncaring selfish monster, shame really, you were trained by two of the most feared speedsters in the multiverse, and yet that stunted your growth more than any other speedster.**_ " He reached down and grabbed Barry by the collar of his suit. " _ **Let's go for a run.**_ "

Barry was unable to hold his consciousness as they both vanished in golden light.

* * *

 **S.T.A.R. Labs, Caitlin's Lab**

Ben and August were resting in the medical lab while Caitlin and Alex worked on removing the stone shards. The shards had pierced into the bone before seemingly fusing with them. Making it very difficult for Caitlin and Alex who had to cut open their legs in order to surgically remove the fused stone with a bone saw. Caitlin knew the Speed Force could heal broken bones within a few hours however nothing in her knowledge suggested that it could regrow missing sections of bone. If it couldn't there was a high chance both Ben and August could never run again.

"Tell me honestly mom" She looked to Ben who was still awake because of his high metabolism. "How bad is it?"

"It's very bad." She said trying to sound professional and keep her emotions under wraps. "Ben… I don't know how to say this but…" Ben reached out and took his mother's hand with his one good arm.

"I can take it mom."

"I… I've never seen the Speed Force repair this type of damage in either myself or Barry. I… I'm afraid your arm and legs might not be able to handle running."

Ben sighed. He knew that the Speed Force had limitations when it came to healing. Regeneration was a long shot; broken bones were a no brainer but this wasn't _Harry Potter_ where Madam Pomfrey could regrow bones in a single night. "It may take a little longer than if they were broken but I should heal up fine."

"Until then you and August are on permanent bedrest." Caitlin placed a hand on Ben's shoulder and gave him a smile. "I don't want either of you to break any bones worse than they already are."

There was a flash of blinding light in the middle of the medical room forcing everyone to be on guard.

" _ **Greetings**_." Caitlin, Ben, Alex and August were immediately on guard.

"BARRY!" Caitlin cried out when she saw the limb and broken body in the armored man's hand.

" _ **I see you care for this**_ …" He shook Barry's limp body " _ **False God**_." Blue lightning flashed in Caitlin's eyes before she rushed the man holding Barry. But she passed right though him as if he wasn't there. " _ **Not fast enough**_." The man said before tossing Barry only for Caitlin to catch him. " _ **Better fix him up, I don't want this to be too easy**_." There was another flash of golden light and the man was gone.

"What the hell was that?" Alex demanded.

"Lightspeed…" Ben replied. "The man I came to stop."

"Barry!" Caitlin cried trying to wake up the limp speedster. "Barry! Wake up! Please! Stay with me!" She felt for a pulse and found it much lower than it should be. Caitlin couldn't help but cry as she begged Alex to help her get Barry onto the nearest bed.

In the background, August watched with a secret smiled. Everything was going according to plan. With the Flash out of commission Central City was going to need a new hero.

* * *

This is the end of the chapter

Please tell me what you liked, didn't like, look forward to/think will happen, or your general thoughts and comments, this will help me make the story better; I'm a big boy so I can take criticism. And if you Review you get a Shout Out and questions answered either privately or in the next chapter.

 **SEVEN REVIEWS, FAVORITES OR FOLLOWS AND I'LL TRY TO UPDATE IN A WEEK. EVERY TWO OVER THAT AND I'LL DO ONE DAY SOONER.**

 **(i.e. 9 R/F/F = 6-day update)**

Have a Fantastic day


	15. Broken Bones and Heroes

**Disclaimer:** The following is a nonprofit Fan based story; The FLASH and all related characters are owned by DC comics, the CW and anyone I may have missed.

Like I always seem to say to the point of redundancy (doesn't mean it's any less true) I love everyone who Reviews, Favorites and or Follows any of my stories. Again, if I didn't respond I apologize and just let me know.

Also, please share this on any social media platform you see fit, get the word out if you love it so much AReiss215 gave me the idea to get it out there the only problem is I am not that involved with the social medias (no twitter, Insta, facebook, etc.) so it is totally cool for you guys to do that on my behalf if you want because I would love for the whole fandom to read this. Hell, I would love it if the stars, writers and Producers of the shows saw this!

Reviews: **wilsonenmanual43, Galpalcj, AReiss215, Guest** and **changingdestiny40**

 **Guest:** I like it that we both agree. However, we are nowhere near close to the end which is why I'm going to have us jump ahead a couple of times starting next chapter since most meta-humans that turn up would basically be filler.

Favorites: **primus light bringer**

Followers: **AbyssDarknessLord**

If I missed anyone please let me know. Either way, this is a shorter chapter but it's dealing with the fallout of Lightspeed's attack so I hope you all enjoy because we will be jumping ahead in time next chapter.

* * *

 _The Flash: Survival of the Fastest_

Chapter 14: Broken Bones and Heroes

* * *

 **S.T.A.R. Labs, Medical Lab**

Joe, Iris, Wally, Eddie, Jesse and Harry rushed back to STAR Labs when they heard what had happened to Barry.

"BARRY!" Iris screamed as they entered Caitlin's Lab. Barry's girlfriend was wearing her scrubs and had her hair tied up in a ponytail. Sweat collected on Caitlin's brow as she worked tirelessly to try and save him. "Caitlin what happened?" Every part of Barry was in some kind of brace, his arms, legs, neck, and torso.

Without looking up from Barry Caitlin responded. "Barry was Attacked…" Caitlin thought to the villain Lightspeed. He came out of nowhere and effortlessly defeated Barry, but instead of Killing him Lightspeed left him…"

Terrified for her best friend Iris buried her face into her husband's shoulder.

"Why would he do that?" Eddie asked

"I… I don't know…" Caitlin responded tearfully. "He… he called Barry a false god… and said some other things before running away… I've never seen someone move so fast. Not even Savitar was that fast."

"He was faster than Savitar?" Wally asked. How could someone be faster than the self-proclaimed God of Speed? "

"Where's Ben? And August?" Joe asked worried for his grandson.

"They're resting in the other room. Alex is looking over them." Caitlin explained as Joe approached her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "The meta-human they fought hurt them pretty bad."

"Where is this Meta now?" Jesse asked. "Are they in prison?"

Caitlin shook her head. "I don't know. Barry was going to take her to Iron Heights, but I don't think he got to."

"Caitlin, he's going to pull through. They all are" Joe said.

"I don't know Joe…" Caitlin somehow was able to suppress her emotions keeping her tears at bay. "I've never seen Barry this injured before. His bones are so broken that they may never heal properly."

"God… we should have been there…" Wally said feeling guilty. He and Jesse were helping Eddie with two Meta-humans. Kid Flash, Jesse Quick and Cobalt Blue managed to stop them and bring them to Iron Heights.

"It's not your fault Wally." Ben said as he hobbled into the room supported by Alex.

"Ben!" Caitlin was a little upset that Ben was up and about. "You need to rest!"

Ben seemed to grimace in pain with every step he took. "I'm fine…"

"I'm sorry Caitlin, he's being very stubborn." Alex apologized.

"Ben, you are not OK! Alex and I had to remove sections of your bones!" Caitlin argued. "I can tell that you're in pain right now!"

"Mo-"

Caitlin immediately cut him off. "Don't you dare 'Mom' Me. Alex take him back to his bed!" Alex nodded and led Ben out of the room, leaving Caitlin to turn back to the rest of the Team. Caitlin ran a hand through her hair and sighed heavily before feeling a hand being placed on her shoulder.

"Come on Caitlin." Iris said. "You need some air." Gently she guided Caitlin out of the room, but not before they both spared one more look to the unconscious Barry. "Come on, I'll take you home."

* * *

 **Star City, Queen Mansion**

Laurel looked up at the old building as she put her car into park. It looked like no one had been here for years, which was odd considering Laurel remembered that she and Oliver had their wedding reception here.

"Welcome Ms. Lance." Laurel looked up to see a man sitting on the railing of the second floor. "We've been expecting you."

He was a young man, he looked to be in his late 20's. Tall and well built, with black hair and deep set blue eyes. He wore a black sleeveless shirt, dark blue jeans, black combat boots, black gloves and spiked bracelets in each arm, on top of that the lower half of his face was wrapped in a gray colored scarf.

"Who are you?" Laurel demanded.

"That's not important." The man said. There was a scream that echoed through the halls.

Laurel looked around searching for the source of the scream. She was sure she recognized the voice, it sounded like Oliver. "Oliver? OLIVER!" She screamed back, maybe her husband would respond.

"He's here." The man responded as he picked something out of his ear. "That's one of the reasons I brought you here." Laurel turned back to the man.

"Why did you bring me here?"

"Look around you and you'll see."

Laurel didn't like this at all but she complied and looked around the mansion. An hour later left Laurel more confused than before. She had checked every room but there were no signs of Oliver anywhere. When she got to the foyer she turned back to the mysterious young man.

"Where's Oliver?" She demanded.

"You're not getting it." The man shook his head. He picked a photo up off the table in the middle of the room. "Just look at this." Laurel took the photo.

There was nothing out of the ordinary or sinister about the photo. It was one of Oliver, Thea and herself.

"check the date." The mysterious man said.

Slowly Laurel took the photo out of the frame and flipped it over. The date read November 2007, nearly ten years ago. "What's you point?" Laurel asked. "This is a photo of Ollie, Thea and Me from 2007."

"Do you remember even taking that picture?" The man asked

"No, it was ten years ago." Laurel said still looking at the photo. Yes it was true she had no recollection of taking that picture which was odd.

"You have no recollection of the picture because _you_ were not in it." The mysterious man put an emphasis on the you.

"What?" Laurel looked up at the man. "What the hell are you talking about? I don't remember it because it happened a long time ago!"

"No Laurel, that is not you in that picture because you are not Laurel Lance." He said. "You are her doppelganger, from Earth-2, Black Siren."

"Shut… UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUPPPPPPPPPP!" Laurel screamed and unleashed her sonic scream. Instincts were over ridding Laurel's rational mind which was questioning how she was screaming so loudly.

Moving equally fast, the mysterious man yanked down his scarf and screamed right back. For a brief moment, Laurel noticed stitching running up each of his cheeks before they ripped open giving the man a horrifying Glasgow smile that exposed all thirty-two of his teeth.

The man's scream was equal to Laurel's own and they managed to cancel each other out. Glass cracked and/or shattered from the sound and the building shook from the vibrations. Once it all died down Laurel collapsed to her knees gasping for breath.

"How…?" She clutched her own throat in shock. How did he do that? Better question, how did she do that? Laurel wasn't a meta-human. How could she possibly release such a scream? "This is… this is impossible…"

"I can offer you the answers you seek, Laurel." The man said. Laurel looked up to see him standing over her readjusting his scarf so it would cover his mouth. He crouched down so he could look into her eyes. "But only if you want them."

"Who… who are you…" Laurel asked more frightened than anything else.

"My name is Bobby, but you can also call me Sonic Boom."

"Is… is everything I know a lie?" Laurel asked on the verge of tears.

Bobby closed his eyes and lowered his head before uttering a single word. "Yes."

* * *

 **Caitlin and Barry's Apartment**

Iris removed the mug from the Kurig once it was filled with that chocolate colored goodness everyone ran on. Taking two steaming mugs Iris left the kitchen and entered into the living room before handing one of the mugs to Caitlin and siting on the couch next to her most-likely-future-sister-in-law.

"Well, I haven't been a barista for a couple of years now, but I think I still got it. Here." She said as Caitlin took the cup and sipped her coffee.

"Thank you, Iris…" Caitlin said quietly.

The two women sat in silence. Caitlin was honestly glad they weren't talking. What were they supposed to even say? She was grateful for the gesture Iris was offering.

"How are you feeling?" Iris asked. "And please be honest Caitlin, I know you tend to close off."

"Honestly… I'm terrified…" Caitlin didn't bother to look up from her coffee. "I… I've never seen Barry in such awful condition… neither Zoom or Savitar have inflicted this much damage. And on top of this I had to cut up my own son's bones to the point he might never be able to run again."

Iris could see how broken Caitlin seemed to be. "It's going to be OK Caitlin-" Caitlin shook her head cutting Iris off.

"It won't be OK Iris!" Caitlin felt the tears form. Iris put down her cup and wrapped her arms around Caitlin and let her friend cry into her shoulder. "It… it won't be OK…" she sniffled between words as tears leaked onto Iris' shoulder.

"Have faith Caitlin…" Iris said. "You and Barry are two of the strongest people I know. Nothing this insignificant will keep you two apart."

* * *

 **The Next Day**

 **S.T.A.R. Labs, Medical Lab**

Joe sat next to Barry's unconscious body. It was painful to see Barry in such a state, it was like when Barry was struck by lightning only worse.

"Dad?" Joe turned around to see Iris walking into the lab. "You OK?"

Joe shook his head. "No Iris I'm not… Barry's unconscious and broken… and there's nothing I can do about it."

Iris took a deep breath. "Barry will pull through dad. He's done it before."

"I know baby girl. But this doesn't make me any less terrified. I already told Captain Singh Barry was in a car accident."

"How'd they take it?"

"Everyone at the station is worried for Barry, Singh said if they have time they will come to visit him." Iris smiled.

"That's nice of them."

"How's Caitlin taking it?" Joe asked.

Despite Caitlin's professional demeanor Iris could tell Caitlin was really troubled. She had been through more heartache than any other person Iris knew, so seeing Barry like this was hardest on Caitlin. "She's trying to be strong." Iris said. "but I can tell she's hurting. I stayed with her last night."

"That's good of you, that girl needs someone right now."

Iris nodded. "I offered to drive her in today but she said she'll come in on her own later. She mentioned something about needing some time to process."

* * *

 **STAR Labs, Speed Lab**

Wally ran endless laps around the lab over and over again trying to push himself to go faster and faster. This Lightspeed was faster than anything he had seen. Faster than Barry, Caitlin, Zoom, Savitar, Jesse or even himself.

"Wally!" Jesse called out to Kid Flash. Listening to her, Wally came to a stop in front of her.

"Hey Jess."

"Wally, you can't beat yourself up for what happened to Barry."

Wally sighed. "But is our fault. We weren't fast enough to get to Barry in time."

"Wally, stop beating yourself up." Wally and Jesse turned to see Harry leaning in the doorway. "None of us knows what the future holds, no one could have predicted this Lightspeed showing up. All we can do is move forward from this."

"What do you suggest?" Wally shrugged. "According to Caitlin and Ben, Lightspeed is unbelievably fast, so fast that we cannot even comprehend his speed."

"Then we work on getting you faster Wally." Harry said. "Because this is going to take all of us."

* * *

 **Earth-38, D.E.O. Headquarters.**

Cisco and J'onn stood in front of the Transmatter Portal. "OK so how are we supposed to get to this back to my earth?" Cisco asked unsure how they were going to move a rather large machine across the multiverse.

"We're not going to bring it to your Earth, we will be using this in conjunction with your abilities to open the portal to connect with Kara's exact location." J'onn explained. "In theory, this will take a lot of the burden off of you."

Cisco shrugged. "Well, let's go for it."

As Cisco opened a breach using the Transmatter Portal as a sort of amplifier J'onn plugged in Kara's bio-signature.

"OK J'onn, I'll keep the Breach open as long as I can. You get in grab Kara and get out."

J'onn smirked as his body transformed into his Martian form. "I'll be back." The Martian Manhunter ran into the portal vanishing from Earth-38.

* * *

 **Earth-Prime, Space Sector 0000, Planet Oa, Chamber of the Guardians**

The Guardians, Kara, Hal and Yat looked as a blue portal ripped open mere feet away from them.

"What is this?" One of the male guardians demanded.

"J'onn Jonzz came rushing out of the portal and slammed Yat away from Kara.

"J'onn!" Kara called out, but the Martian Manhunter didn't seem to hear her as he rushed Hal Jordan.

The Green Lantern from Earth's Sector forged dozens of green chains which wrapped around the Martian immobilizing him.

"Calm down green man." Hal said. "I take it he's one of your friends?" He asked Kara.

"Yes. J'onn Please stop!" J'onn stopped struggling and looked to Kara.

"Kara. What's going on."

Kara turned back to Hal and the Green Lantern dissolved his emerald chains. "J'onn, this is Hal Jordan." She gestured to Hal, "He's in charge of our sector. This whole ordeal was a huge misunderstanding." Kara explained

"Our Apologies." The Guardian known as Ganthet said. "Lantern Yat mistook your Kara Zor-El for our Kara Zor-El."

"I see." J'onn said. "If I may, I would like to return Kara to our home."

"What? J'onn we cannot leave yet! We still have to help Barry!"

"We will allow it." One of the guardians said getting Kara and J'onn's attention. "We will allow you two to return to your own reality."

"Thank you." J'onn said. "Come on Kara, let's get Alex and go home."

* * *

 **Earth, Central City, S.T.A.R. Labs**

Ben laid out on his cot next to August. Caitlin had confided them to Bed rest. He looked up at the white ceiling and huffed in frustration.

"Alrigth Ben, what's bothering you?" August asked.

"I hate being out of commission like this." Ben said "And the worst part is we might never get to run again."

"Actually, there might be a way for both of us to heal faster." That caught Ben's attention.

"How so?"

"I read some medical notes in Coast City by a Dr. Steloogy. He proposed that to better heal bone fractures at much faster rates Doctors and Surgeons preform an entire bone transplant."

Ben's eyes widened. The Medical Examiner at CCPD proposed entire bone transplants? That could work for his arm and for their legs. "Really? That can work? Transplanting an entire Bone?"

"In theory it should work, however it was never done in practice. It requires complete bone removal which is crazy to say the least. It also requires a replacement bone of the same size and blood type. And the Surgeon has to move quick with no room for error."

"What's the recovery time?"

"Supposedly the recovery time is 2-3 weeks, which for us would be…"

Ben smiled. "Within an hour. So where are we going to find four tibias, a radius and an Ulna with our blood types?"

"You may not like it." August said as he swung his legs over the side of the cot. "Just leave it to me. You contact Dr. Steloogy and set up an appointment." He grimaced slightly as he placed weight onto his legs. He grabbed a crutch and before Ben could blink he was gone.

* * *

 **Streets of Central City**

August, or rather Godspeed, ran with the crutch for three steps before discarding the tool to run on his own. Despite receiving the same injury as Ben, August had used one of the abilities he had been granted in order to completely halt anything done to his body. Nothing could hurt him, which was why he was considered one of the most powerful speedsters. Concentrating hard Godspeed allowed the Speed Force to flow through him before opening a breach in the multiverse. August knew exactly where to go in order to obtain the bones. Who else would have a bone of the same length and blood time aside from a doppelganger.

* * *

 **Central City Police Department, Morgue**

Dr. Steloogy was hunched over his microscope analyzing the tissue form an open case when a gust of air and a crackle of thunder echoed through the room.

The doctor turned around to see a man clad completely in white and gold Armor.

"What? Who… who are you?" He asked fearfully.

" _ **I am here to offer you Salvation from your torment Dr. Steloogy."**_ The man said " _ **My lord and master has seen the hardships you have endured and eh offers to ascend you to new levels."**_

"What are you talking about?" Bones asked.

" _ **Soon my master will come for your aid. When he does help him and you shall be rewarded."**_

"Rewarded how?"

" _ **A cure for your ailment."**_ The man said before vanishing in a blinding golden light.

No sooner had he left then Steloogy heard his phone rip though the silence, startling the man and almost giving him a heart attack. Quickly as he could he fumbled for his phone and answered it.

"Hello?"

* * *

 **S.T.A.R. Labs**

Ben hung up the phone just as August returned to the lab carrying a large duffle bag which make a noise suspiciously like bones banging together.

"Um August… please tell me you didn't go grave robbing."

August placed the bag on the floor and rested his crutch against his bed as he got back into it. "OK, I did not go grave robbing. Did you contact Steloogy?"

"I tried but it went to voice mail." ben said "Which is strange since he always works late."

"Well, if we were to say speed read his techniques and a bunch of Dr. Snow's books I'm sure we could perform the surgery ourselves."

Ben gave him a concerned look. "Are you serious? it's bad enough operating without any experience, but what you're talking about it insane and quite frankly, sick."

"Come on man. If we don't do this now we might not get the chance to do it. And if it works, we could apply this to the Barry." Ben thought for a moment.

"Alright, who goes first?"

"You." August said as he opened the bag and pulled out two tibias, a radius and an ulna. all four bones were in perfect condition and even had some blood on them which caught Ben's attention.

"What the fu-" Ben was silenced by a super-fast fist to his head which knocked him out cold allowing Godspeed the opportunity to perform an extremely unethical surgery on his friend.

The white speedster grabbed a scalpel and buried it all the way into Ben's leg and ran it down from knee to ankle. He reached in with speed and Dexterity and removed the entire bone. in a mere moment, thanks to his improbable speed. Godspeed had reinserted the new tibia and sutured the ligaments back together before stitching the leg up. In another microsecond, He had done the same action again to Ben's other leg and to his left arm.

"There you go my friend." Godspeed said to his sleeping friend. "You're going to be as good as new when you wake up. I have such big plans for you and your precious little family that I cannot afford for either you or Barry to be out of commission for very long."

* * *

 **Central City Park**

Caitlin sat on a park bench taking in the beauty around her and trying to process everything that had happened yesterday. Mostly her thoughts we on the small box sitting peacefully in her hands. This morning after she had woken up in her bed, alone for the first time in months, she picked up Barry's jacket and held it close taking in his scent. It was in the middle of this activity that a small box fell out of the jacket pocket. Caitlin had put the jacket down and picked up the box. Tears were staining her eyes as she slowly opened it and gazed upon a beautiful ring.

Barry wanted to propose.

Caitlin couldn't stop the tears that ran down her face. They were tears that blended happiness, sorrow, joy, even anger. Caitlin ran a hand through her hair unable to hold back her emotions. When Iris knocked on her door Caitlin put away the ring in a flash of blue lightning. She told Iris she'll get to S.T.A.R. Labs on her own.

So here she was, sitting on a park bench thinking about everything.

She was slightly snapped out of her thoughts when someone sat down next to her. Far enough not to intrude on her personal space but close enough to be noticeable. Caitlin glanced over out of the corner of her eye. There was hardly anything out of the ordinary with him.

"Nice day, isn't it?" The man next to her said looking up at the sky. Caitlin followed suit but didn't respond. "Not one to talk, that's fine." he said. There was silence for a few minutes. "I take it you live here? I don't I'm just visiting." The man kept saying.

Caitlin was starting to get annoyed with the man. Sure, he was coming off as friendly but Caitlin wanted to be left alone.

"I take it you are having boyfriend troubles?" At this, Caitlin actually turned and got a good look at the man. He was dressed rather casually with denim jeans and a red hoodie underneath a yellow and black leather jacket.

"What?" She said

"She speaks!" He smiled "So, what your boyfriend proposed? Mazel Tov! Oh wait, He didn't propose yet, did he?"

Caitlin shook her head. "No, my boyfriend was in an accident yesterday. He's in a coma."

"Oh, I am sorry." The man said "I know what it's like to lose a loved one."

"You do?"

"Yeah, I do." He gave her a warm smile. "I'm sorry I should have asked, what's your name?"

"Caitlin." Caitlin offered her hand which the man took.

"Caitlin, that's a very nice name. I'm-" There was a slight beeping that came from his watch and he seemingly grimaced slightly. "I'm sorry, I've got to go."

"Wait, I never got your name." Just as mysteriously as he appeared he was gone.

* * *

This is the end of the chapter

Please tell me what you liked, didn't like, look forward to/think will happen, or your general thoughts and comments, this will help me make the story better; I'm a big boy so I can take criticism. And if you Review you get a Shout Out and questions answered either privately or in the next chapter.

Please share this with everyone you can via whatever platform of social media you want. I would love it if the whole fandom got to enjoy this story and not just the one on fanfiction

 **SEVEN REVIEWS, FAVORITES OR FOLLOWS AND I'LL TRY TO UPDATE IN A WEEK. EVERY TWO OVER THAT AND I'LL DO ONE DAY SOONER.**

 **(i.e. 9 R/F/F = 6-day update)**

Have a Fantastic day


	16. A City Without the Flash

**Disclaimer:** The following is a nonprofit Fan based story; The FLASH and all related characters are owned by DC comics, the CW and anyone I may have missed.

Like I always seem to say to the point of redundancy (doesn't mean it's any less true) I love everyone who Reviews, Favorites and or Follows any of my stories. Again, if I didn't respond I apologize and just let me know.

Also, please share this on any social media platform you see fit, get the word out if you love it so much AReiss215 gave me the idea to get it out there the only problem is I am not that involved with the social medias (no twitter, Insta, facebook, etc.) so it is totally cool for you guys to do that on my behalf if you want because I would love for the whole fandom to read this. Hell, I would love it if the stars, writers and Producers of the shows saw this!

Reviews: **CallMeMiles, AReiss215, wilsonenmanual43, Galpalcj, changingdestiny40,** and **Flash frost**

Favorites: **shadowsharkds**

Followers: **shadowsharkds, TeamCreative** , **WarpTachyon,** and **primus light bringer**

For simplicity, I decided to say Barry's resting heartrate is 6000bpm, this is how I broke down a certain speed feat in the beginning of the chapter. Now, before any of you say that's ridiculous it really isn't because 1.) this is a fanfic of a show based on a comic book character, and 2.) car engines can get up to at least 6000rpm so there's that.

Also I wont be able to start the next chapter until the end of May. I have an exam that I need to study for so that is where my focus needs to be. I apologize to everyone who wants faster updates but this is for my future.

I'm assuming everyone is up to date on _The Flash_ , in that regard Savitar's identity (as well as the majority of Season 3) it won't be affecting this story much if at all. 1.) Because its kind of the same as _Rewriting History_ and 2.) Season 3 (aside from Killer Frost) has been unbearably meh this year where I see things that are eerily familiar to both _Rewriting History (_ Future version of Barry coming to the past) and _The Fury of Killer Frost_ (KF being a manifestation of repressed emotions, KF freezing off Cisco's hands, KF working for a dude who looks like Barry).

* * *

 _The Flash: Survival of the Fastest_

Chapter 15: A City Without the Flash

* * *

 **December 19, 2017**

 **Central City Picture News**

Iris West-Thawne found herself in a position she was finding herself in more and more, staring at her computer screen, the story she was writing was almost complete she just needed one last sentence to finish it off. She had a deadline to meet, but she couldn't stop thinking about the last three months.

The last few months had gotten difficult for Team Flash; Even after August and Ben's miraculous recovery criminal activity was on the rise as news of the Flash's disappearance spread like wildfire. Crimes and Meta-Humans were springing up almost every day pushing everyone to their limits especially since Kara, Alex, J'onn, Harry and Jesse had to return to their respective Earths.

Whenever she wasn't running around as a speedster Caitlin spent whatever time she had with Barry. The Scarlet speedster's body was healing much slower than it normally would and that scared her. Lightspeed must have done something to her boyfriend, that was slowing down his accelerated healing. Iris found herself also spending a lot of time with Caitlin and the unconscious Barry. When she was not working for the paper, or spending time with Eddie she joined Caitlin by Barry's side. It really hurt Iris that there wasn't much she could do aside from being supportive of Caitlin.

Joe and the police department were getting swamped under the massive influx of crimes. Missing people, robberies and meta-humans coming out of the woodwork forced The CCPD and the KCPD to start working together as cases bled between the sister cities. Eddie was doing his best over in Keystone but they were experiencing many of the same problems Central City was experiencing.

Wally and Ben were pushing themselves harder every day. According to Ben what made Lightspeed dangerous was his ability to move at the speed of light, the universal speed limit of everything, so for the last few months they were working with Cisco and Caitlin to try and find a way to get up to that speed.

Over the last few months, Iris' suspicions about August only grew. He was slightly more brutal than any other hero, borderline on Oliver's level in terms of brutality. Quite frankly this darker tone he was taking reminded her of The Future Barry they met back in 2015, though August, or rather Godspeed, had yet to actually kill anyone in front of them, but that didn't me he wasn't close to killing. Behind everyone's backs Iris had been investigating August, so far, she's learned virtually nothing about him, whatever backstory he had given him was completely false.

The people of Central City were not as oblivious as they appeared, they noticed that The Flash wasn't running around Central City that much if at all. People were talking and spreading rumors about the Flash, some saying he was dead and even some other saying he had given up. One thing that Iris noticed that made her uneasy was how well the city was taking to August. It seemed to be too large of a coincidence that August rolls into town, Barry gets seriously hurt and then August virtually became well known and loved by the citizens.

Iris glanced over at her phone to look at the time, it was roughly 11:45pm and she had fifteen minutes to finish. In the grand scheme of things Iris sometimes felt that what she did never truly matters, after all she's just about the only one on Team Flash who has no superpowers, in fact almost all of last year she felt like she was being treated as a glass doll constantly in distress. Sometimes she wished there was more she could offer.

* * *

 **Central City, S.T.A.R. Labs**

It was the middle of the night and S.T.A.R. Labs was almost completely deserted aside from the unconscious Barry n the medical Bay and Joe West who was sleeping next to Barry. Someone needed to remain at the lab at all times with Barry in case something went wrong.

The silence and darkness of the lab seemed to be endless, until a feint red glow illuminated a dark hallway.

To the outside world nothing out of the ordinary happened. Even to speedsters nothing seemed to be happening as what happened next took place within a speedster's single heartbeat, 0.01 seconds.

In that miniscule amount of time The Medical Lab was illuminated by the red glowing energy of the black clad Speedster, Speed Demon. The Demonic speedster hovered over the Flash looking over the broken man. He craned his neck as black lighting arced over his body. Yes, Speed Demon was exactly where he needed to be, At the Flash's side at his time of dying, not like it was the first time this had happened after all, he always found himself near a speedster whose time had run out.

Beneath his devilish helm, Speed Demon closed his eyes and let his memory drift, something he normally did not do, but with Barry Allen it was a special case as his memory took him to another place and another time.

 _Please… please…_ The Flash's pleas filed into his ears as he remembered looking down at a bloodied and broken Flash.

Coming out of the brief memory flash, Speed Demon looked up and down the unconscious speedster before he took action.

* * *

 **December 20, 2017**

The following morning Caitlin sat next to Barry's unconscious body. For nearly three months, the Scarlet speedster had been unconscious and healing far too slowly, "Come on Barry…" Caitlin cupped Barry's hand in her own.

"How's he doing?" Iris asked as she entered the room.

"Still nothing." Caitlin said. This had become rather routine for the two women. Caitlin would come in early and check over Barry before taking a seat next to him. "His body is healing, most of his bones have recovered but he still has a long way to go. And there's still no telling how much damaged he really suffered until he wakes up."

Iris sighed, over the last few months she was spending a lot of time with Barry's unconscious body and it was stirring dormant feelings. Feelings Iris quickly dismissed as she had already made her choice on that front. Plus, it would be completely unfair to both Caitlin and Eddie if Iris were to act upon her love for Barry. She's committed to her life with Eddie because she loves him. "Ok Caitlin… do you want me to swing by later to bring you home?"

That too had become part of their routine. Despite the countless hours, Caitlin spent by Barry's unresponsive side Iris had managed to get Caitlin to rest and have a proper night of sleep. Dare she say she spent more time at Caitlin and Barry's home in the last two months taking care of Caitlin than she spent at her own home with Eddie.

"No," Caitlin replied with a smile. "I think it's time I start getting back on my own two feet. I cannot thank you enough Iris."

Iris smiled. "OK Caitlin. I've got to get to my job. Central City won't know how you guys stopped the Candyman unless I tell it."

Caitlin thought back to yesterday when they fought the Meta-Human cisco nicknamed The Candyman. His real name was William Helpmann, a tall and thin man with a long-crooked nose, who looked like a creepy blend of Willie Wonka and The Child Catcher. Much like numerous other new Meta-Humans he apparently gained his powers from the drug MH-52. Anything he licked turned into candy. It was a tougher fight than they initially anticipated because he was cannibalistic, several officers tried to apprehend him but he turned them into candy and ate them.

After a grueling battle, in which Wally was almost turned into candy, they had managed to outlast him long enough for the drug's effects to wear off and he returned to his normal, creepy non-Meta-Human self.

Caitlin was honestly a little frustrated with the MH-52 drug that seemed to keep popping up. She really needed a sample of the drug. Ben had no clue where it was coming from or how to even manufacture it. All he knew was that a crime lord named Puppet Master was the one supplying it. So, on top of Lightspeed and his cronies, Team Flash was nowhere near close to finding The Puppet Master.

"Hey, Caitlin, are you coming to my Dad's for Christmas?" Iris asked.

Caitlin looked back to Barry and sighed. "I honestly don't know Iris. I mean, I would love to go, and Barry would want me to go, but I just cannot get myself into the holiday spirit when he's like this."

"Ok, well, just let us know if you're coming. It really would mean a lot to us."

"Thank you, Iris, I will." Caitlin gave the reporter a small slightly sad smile as the dark-skinned woman left the room.

After what must have been an hour of just sitting next to Barry Caitlin decided it was time to run her daily diagnostics on Barry. Take blood samples, change his IVs, give him an MRI, among other things. With her super speed, Caitlin could run every test imaginable in fifteen minutes, however, because this was Barry, Caitlin took her sweet time analyzing seemingly every cell in his body. The doctor connected her phone to a set of speakers Cisco owned and pressed the play button.

 _Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh! Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh!  
Caught in a bad romance  
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh! Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh!  
Caught in a bad romance_

Lady Gaga's _Bad Romance_ began to play and echo through the mostly empty lab. Lady Gaga was Barry's favorite artist, according to his Facebook, and part of her hoped that her music would have the same effect on Barry as it did the day he woke up from his first coma. Soon Caitlin found herself humming slightly to the music as she started the tests.

It was during these tests Caitlin noticed an anomaly. Barry's heartrate had increased, and every other injury he had sustained was fully healed, all Barry was doing now was sleeping, which meant-

Barry gasped loudly as his eyes bolted open and he shot up.

"Barry!" Caitlin cried out as she rushed over to him a mode that was somewhere between overly concerned girlfriend and professional doctor. "Barry! Calm down I'm right here! You're in S.T.A.R. Labs."

Barry's eyes were scanning around the room at lightning speed as if he was searching for something until his vision settled on Caitlin. "Caitlin? What happened? How'd I get here?" Barry asked while his girlfriend was checking over him. His voice was panicked and confused. Caitlin looked as if she hadn't slept in days. "Cait?"

"Easy Barry…" Caitlin said, though it sounded like she was saying it more to herself. "Just take it easy… you were in a coma…"

"A coma!?" Barry's eyes widened further. "I…When… how? How long?" Too many questions were running through his brain. "Cait…What happened?"

Caitlin looked away for a moment. "About three months… It's December…" Turning around, Caitlin took Barry's hand in hers and sat on the edge of the bed. "It's a long story." Barry smiled reassuringly.

"I'm not going anywhere for a while Cait."

"OK…" Caitlin began to recount what had happened over the last three months.

* * *

 **Central City Courthouse**

At the same time, on the other side of the city, the police were standing outside the courthouse. Twenty minutes ago, a few men entered the courthouse and now they were holding everyone hostage demanding the release of someone in Iron Heights.

"Damn." Singh said as he rubbed his eyebrows. "Once upon a time we were able to stop crimes without The Flash, now it feels like there's nothing we can do without them."

Joe turned to the captain. "There are six armed men in there with nearly two dozen hostages, sir, and we cannot give into their demands."

"I know Joe, it took us months to build that case to lock him up. We are not letting this bastard go."

"Well, whoever these guys are they've got some highly-advanced weapons, the likes of which I have never seen before." The commanding officer of Central City's S.W.A.T. unit said as he joined Singh and Joe. "My snipers cannot get a clear enough shot, there's a high risk that we would end up killing hostages before hitting them."

The world slowed down around everything as Wally, Ben and August arrived on the scene.

"Half a dozen bad guys inside." Wally said

"Two dozen hostages." Ben continued

"Piece of cake." August smirked. "So, you guys get the hostages I'll handle these crooks."

The two other speedsters each gave August a cocky grin. Over the last three months Wally was getting much faster to where he was almost on par with Ben and August.

Lightning crackled as All three of them entered into the courtroom. Hostages and gunmen were all seemingly slowed down moving ever so slowly.

Wally ran in first as the men slowly turned to the three speedsters. Kid Flash made it to the first of the hostages when things went sideways. The hostage had a device strapped to her chest that activated the moment Wally got close. Strange rods that looked like blue batteries burst forth and jammed themselves into Wally's legs making him fall.

At the same time, Ben noticed the symbol on the gunmen's chest. A swirl resembling a vortex of sorts. Suddenly, for the first time in months, Ben found his mind assaulted by a plethora of visions of people wearing that emblem. They poked and prodded Ben in his vision while saying things he did not understand.

Seeing both Wally and Ben going down Godspeed dove into action. Allowing the Speed Force to source through him as it had done thousands of times before, August grabbed Ben and Wally flashing them out of the building before returning to the courtroom. Maybe several years ago August would have tried to negotiate with these mad men, but that was years ago, now he wasn't going to waste any time. He remembered how Ben, Wally, Caitlin and Barry had explained some science-mumbo-jumbo to incapacitate these men, but he knew how to use his powers in different, more efficient ways.

He grabbed two of the men and vibrated them at the same frequency as himself before sticking them literally into the wall. Once he let go of them they merged with the wall with looks of horror permanently etched on their faces. He then ran to the next assailant before delivering a lightspeed kick to his skull, obliterating his cranium and decimating the wall behind him. Without missing a beat, August he whirled around with such speed he threw two lightning bolts that shot through the chests of two more men killing them. Sure, the Flash preached nonlethal methods in dealing with criminals but Godspeed found that they would just get back out and that didn't keep anyone safe.

He grabbed the last man and flashed him out of the courthouse and to the roof of the courthouse. " _ **Alright you scum, tell me everything Black Hole knows about us Speedsters."**_ He ordered while holding him over the ledge by his throat.

"I… I don't know!" The man screamed.

" _ **That's the wrong answer!"**_ Godspeed began to shake the man violently causing him great pain. " _ **This is a technique I once used to kill one of the most powerful beings in the Multiverse."**_ He stopped shaking the man and held him closer to his face.

"What… what was that?"

" _ **I just gave you a little shake. If I were to shake you harder it would turn your insides to mush. Now, tell me where I can find the leader of Black Hole."**_

"I don't…" Godspeed shook him even more violently, not enough to kill him.

" _ **Again, wrong answer. Tell me where I can find your boss. This is your last chance**_."

The man proceeded to piss himself in fright. "B-black hole operates out of an old abandoned S.T.A.R. Labs facility, just outside Keystone."

" _ **Thank you."**_ Godspeed smirked before letting go of the man's neck and allowing him to fall to the streets bellow. Though he let the man fall to his death, Godspeed wasn't completely without mercy, using his most powerful ability he warped the man's personal flow of time. For a normal person they would hit the pavement in roughly a quarter of a second, but now, this criminal was going to suffer. To the outside world only a quarter of a second may be going by but to the criminal he was going to make that fall last for hours.

* * *

 **S.T.A.R. Labs, Medical Lab  
**

Barry sat in the bed just waiting. Last time he was in a coma for an extended period of time he was up and on his feet within thirty seconds. This time Caitlin wasn't letting him go anywhere without first going through the proper tests.

Iris and Cisco had learned that Barry had woken and were immediately by his side.

"I know Caitlin already gave me the rundown about what's been happening for the last few months, is there anything else I might have missed?"

"Well, did Caitlin mention that Oliver and Laurel have been missing? Or about how I went to another planet with Martian Manhunter to rescue Supergirl?"

"Yeah she mentioned Oliver is still missing, what exactly happened with Kara?" Barry asked. All Caitlin had told him was that Kara, J'onn and Alex had returned to their reality shortly after Barry was attacked by Lightspeed.

"Well, she was abducted by Mon-El's doppelganger, and held on trial for crimes her doppelganger apparently committed. Hey guess what? Kara's people are complete assholes in this universe." Cisco said.

"Really?"

"Yes, though thankfully Kara and J'onn were able to make nice with these galactic police force called the Green Lantern Corp."

"Where were they when The Dominators attacked?" Barry asked

"They apparently were dealing with a full scale ware with some freaky monsters called the Sinestro Corps. That's what I was seeing in my vibe with the monsters in those cells."

"Sinestro Corps? Sounds a little on the nose don't you think?" Caitlin said reentering her lab. "I mean I cannot be the only one who thinks Sinestro sounds eerily close to sinister."

"Yeah, guess you are right, but get this one of them, the guy who stood up for Kara, he's from Earth!" Cisco continued.

"Really?" Barry asked surprised that there was a human living out there among aliens.

"Oh yes, no clue who he is or where he's from, just that he's from our humble little ball of dirt and water."

"Well, how are other things?" Barry asked

"They're fine." Iris said. "Everyone has been dealing with your injuries in different ways, but its nothing we can't handle."

"Well, Barry do you want the good news first or the bad news?" Caitlin asked

"Uh, is there anyway I can just get the good news?" The Flash asked to which Caitlin shook her head.

"The good news is all your tests have come back with excellent results, in fact you seem to be in better condition now than before." Caitlin said showing Barry the results.

"How is that possible?" Cisco asked.

"Anther mystery of the Speed Force?" Iris asked

"Maybe, so, want the bad news?" Caitlin asked.

"I guess I have little choice." Barry shrugged. "Give it to me straight Dr. Snow."

"I cannot let you leave STAR Labs until we run some physical tests, just to ensure your body is functioning properly, and by that I mean your standard of normal."

* * *

 **Central City Courthouse**

Just outside the courthouse Wally and Ben were fully recovered from their physical and psychological ordeal when the S.W.A.T. Officers came out with the hostages. It all happened very quickly for the speedsters. One second they were running in and the next they were outside while August was telling the cops they did not have to worry about giving the men their rights.

"Thank god everyone is OK." Ben said watching the people. "How's the leg Wally."

"Better once we got those spike things out." Wally rubbed his right leg. "Where the hell did they get weapons like that?"

Ben just shrugged. He never came across anything like that from his time. "No idea, and even if I did I couldn't do anything about it, flow of time and all."

"What about you man?" Kid Flash asked the other Flash. "I caught a glimpse of you. You looked like you'd seen a ghost in there."

Ben exhaled heavier than he meant to. "I don't know what happened. They seemed familiar but I have never seen thugs and guns liken theirs before." Ben looked around an noticed someone was missing. "Where's Godspeed?" he asked concerned for their friend. There was a flash of golden-white lightning and Godspeed was next to them.

"What's up guys?" August asked

"What happened?" Wally asked.

"I took care of it." Godspeed said nonchalantly. "They won't be bothering anyone else ever again." That's when Joe and Captain Singh made their way over to them.

"What the hell was that?" The Police Captain demanded angrily.

" _ **What are you talking about Captain**_?" Ben asked switching to his disguised voice.

"He's talking about the five dead bodies inside the courthouse." Joe turned to August. He knew Neither Wally nor Ben would ever stoop to this level, but August… August has been slowly getting more and more brutal ever since Barry was attacked. Every meta-human or criminal that had the misfortune of meeting August had the luxury to end up in the hospital more than Iron Heights.

" _ **I did a service for the City Detective West.**_ " August argued. " ** _Those were some very bad men, they were part of a private scientific army known as Black Hole._** "

"Black Hole? Never heard of them." Singh said not really believing Godspeed.

" _ **Well, it's the truth.**_ " Godspeed said.

"And now we have nothing to support your claim! You killed all of those men!" Godspeed stood unflinching in the face of the police captain's fury.

" _ **Godspeed, you killed those men!?**_ " Ben said horrified.

" _ **I took those men off the streets**_." August countered. " ** _They had tech to compete with us and hurt a lot of people. I did what was right_**."

"That is not your call." Singh and Godspeed were inches from each other

A beeping sound came from August's wrist prompting him to get ready to run.

" _ **Where are you going**_?" Wally demanded.

" _ **I don't have time to chit chat**_." August retorted. " _ **Those thugs were working for someone and I will find out who**_." Ignoring what everyone else was saying Godspeed took off, he had other business to attend to.

Singh rubbed his forehead furiously before turning to Kid Flash and the other Flash. "If neither of you nor the Flash can wrangle in that guy I will have no choice but to declare you enemies of the city and issue an arrest warrant!"

Ben was about to run after August when his mother's voice came over the com link. "Hey, what's up?"

" _Guys, get back to S.T.A.R. Labs, Barry's awake!"_ Caitlin said happily before abruptly hanging up.

" _ **Flash is awake**_!?" Wally grinned happily.

Ben couldn't contain his smile. " _ **Come on**_!" Before Joe could protest or say anything Ben grabbed him and Flashed them to S.T.A.R. Labs with Wally closely behind them.

* * *

 **S.T.A.R. Labs, Medical Lab**

"Easy Barry." Iris said to the Flash. Iris was supporting Barry's left side while Caitlin was supporting his right. According to Caitlin, since Barry had not used any of his muscles in the last three months they had to take everything slowly.

Walking was proving to be difficult for Barry, almost as Bad as the time Zoom broke his back. OK maybe having virtually every bone broken was worse than just his back, though that temporarily robbed him of his legs. This one robbed him of three months with the people he loved.

"That's it Barry, just a few more steps." Caitlin encouraged him with a smile.

Barry was struggling, not to the point of exhaustion, but enough that he gave reason for Iris and Caitlin to be by his sides.

"OK…" Barry panted slightly. "Can I sit back down now?"

"Yeah" Caitlin and Iris guided Barry back to the bed just as Joe, Wally, Ben and Eddie entered.

"Dad!" Ben cried out happily as he approached Barry and hugged the Flash.

"Hey Ben…" Barry returned the hug despite the slight pain surging through his sore body. Ben let go of Barry before he was replaced by Joe, Eddie and then finally Wally.

"Damn you had us scared Barry." Joe said

"I'm fine Joe, really." Barry smiled. He looked around. "I've heard what's happened while I was out."

"Ah… So, you know how tough it's been getting." Wally lowered his head a little.

"Hey, guys once Caitlin gives me the all clear I'll be back out there with you cleaning up the streets." Barry turned to Caitlin and she gave him a smile.

"Alright, let's let Barry rest." Caitlin proceeded to shoo everyone out of the room and was about to leave herself when Barry stopped her.

"Cait… wait… I need to talk to you."

Caitlin made her way back to Barry and sat down next to him. "What's wrong Barry?"

"It's just…I've been thinking since I woke up." Barry rubbed the back of his head. "you almost lost me… and I know that sort of thing is extremely hard for you." He reached out and took her hands into his own. "I guess what I'm trying to say is… I've been waiting for the uh, perfect moment to say this but… it seems like the perfect moment never quite shows up when you think… I mean how do you know it's the perfect moment when it's gone?"

"Barry" Caitlin chuckled at his babbling. She had a feeling she knew where Barry was going and could barely hold back her tears.

Barry took a deep breath. "I guess what I'm trying to say is…"

"Yes." Caitlin answered.

Barry blinked in confusion a few times. "Uh… I never got to ask my question."

"I'm sorry Barry, I already know the question." She reached into her pocket and pulled out the box with the ring. "I sort of found this the day you were put into your coma." She handed him the box.

Barry looked at it slightly dumbfounded. The ring was supposed to be a surprise but clearly it was out of the bag, now there truly was no going back. Barry smiled. With only a little difficulty, and some help from Caitlin, Barry was down on one knee with the ring box in one hand and Caitlin's free hand in the other. "I never thought I'd be doing this now."

"I'm just surprised you were planning on popping the question without that." Caitlin said as she gestured to the ring.

"Well, what do you say Dr. Snow?"

"Barry, and you already know my answer." Caitlin beamed a wide smile. "But I want to hear you ask it."

With a wide smile, Barry opened his mouth. "Caitlin Snow…" He opened the box. "We've been through a lot together and through it all you were always there for me. I know this may seem like I am doing this because the Universe is saying we are destined to be, but that's not the case. Nor is it because I am afraid of losing you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you Caitlin because I love you." He took the ring out and hovered it over Caitlin's finger. "What do you say to spending the rest of our lives together? Caitlin, will you marry me?"

Through teary eyes Caitlin nodded vigorously. "Yes… god yes Barry…"

Barry slid the ring onto Caitlin's finger before the duo shared a passionate kiss. Their kiss lasted for a while neither one of them wanted to break it until the need for air forced them apart.

"So…"

"Home…" Caitlin breathed "Bedroom… now…"

"You sure…?" Barry panted

"I've never been surer in my life…"

Barry smiled and scooped Caitlin up despite the pain. Unbeknownst to either of the speedsters Barry's eyes flashed red for a moment and as he ran home with Caitlin some of his usual yellow lightning flickered black.

* * *

 **Central City, Godspeed's Lair**

The sound of hoofs echoed through the room as a portal opened as a man came out. Well, one could not quite call him human since his lower half was that of a horse, to be precise chestnut colored shire horse. His upper body was muscular yet slim, but also bare while a mop of shaggy black hair covered his head. Tattooed into the center of his chest was a lightning bolt in a circle. If one were to get a decent a decent look at his face one could see it was completely wrapped in bandages, only his blue eyes were visible.

"Welcome to Earth-Prime." Lightspeed welcomed the new creature. "How do you feel?" Lightspeed asked the centaur.

The Centaur looked over his lower half and smiled beneath his bandages. "I am grateful for what you and Godspeed have done for me. I'll do anything you ask of me."

"Good, head into Central City, my master wants you to eliminate someone."

The Centaur cracked his neck and arms. "Just give me their name, and consider it done."

"Iris West." Lightspeed said

"Iris… West…" The centaur repeated the name and smiled beneath his bandages. Yellow lightning arced over his body as he tore out of the room in search of the reporter.

" _ **Lucien."**_ Lightspeed turned to see Godspeed standing before him. Humbled by his lord and master, Lightspeed dropped to his knees as if in the presence of a god, or rather the true God of Speed. " _ **How goes our plan**_?"

"We are causing as much chaos as possible my lord." Lightspeed couldn't bring himself to look into Godspeed's masked face. "Though the Flash's allies have managed to defeat and lock away quite a number of our followers, more than I would like."

" _ **That's fine, contact Puppet Master, tell him to make sure he gets MH-52 into the hands of James and Jaqueline Potts."**_

"But… milord, those two are cheaters…they are low level thieves serving time in Iron Heights."

" _ **I don't care how long it takes, as long as they get the drug. We need them to activate their powers, once they do my plan cannot be stopped, no matter what The Flash and his friends do**_."

* * *

This is the end of the chapter

Please tell me what you liked, didn't like, look forward to/think will happen, or your general thoughts and comments, this will help me make the story better; I'm a big boy so I can take criticism. And if you Review you get a Shout Out and questions answered either privately or in the next chapter.

Please share this with everyone you can via whatever platform of social media you want. I would love it if the whole fandom got to enjoy this story and not just the one on fanfiction

 **SEVEN REVIEWS, FAVORITES OR FOLLOWS AND I'LL TRY TO UPDATE IN A WEEK. EVERY TWO OVER THAT AND I'LL DO ONE DAY SOONER.**

 **(i.e. 9 R/F/F = 6-day update)**

Have a Fantastic day


	17. A New Life Together

**Disclaimer:** The following is a nonprofit Fan based story; The FLASH and all related characters are owned by DC comics, the CW and anyone I may have missed.

Like I always seem to say to the point of redundancy (doesn't mean it's any less true) I love everyone who Reviews, Favorites and or Follows any of my stories. Again, if I didn't respond I apologize and just let me know.

Reviews: **CallMeMiles, Flash frost, AReiss215, Guest, wilsonenmanual43, changingdestiny40, vdumont** , and **StelenaClaceLover09**

 **Guest:** Yeah, I guess that proposal was everything.

Favorites: **romeosami7, belulu, StelenaClaceLover09, karteck, Gater-Da-Gunslinger-14, JustFanboying, asingh7, ViperTimeline, lisaovboltonxx,** and **draconous**

Followers: **changingdestiny40, draconous, asingh7, JustFanboying, vdumont, StelenaClaceLover09, belulu** and **romeosami7**

Also, please share this on any social media platform you see fit, get the word out if you love it so much AReiss215 gave me the idea to get it out there the only problem is I am not that involved with the social medias (no twitter, Insta, facebook, etc.) so it is totally cool for you guys to do that on my behalf if you want because I would love for the whole fandom to read this. Hell, I would love it if the stars, writers and Producers of the shows saw this!

Well, I am Back, sort of, I'll try to have more regular updates in the future but I will say we will be going at a much faster pace after this chapter. Hopefully it all comes together cohesively. Like everything I write I don't like 100% of it, maybe about 90% I think is well done.

Fair warning there are some spots that might come off as rated M, but I didn't really go into much if any detail so I don't think its that bad, I mean its Hot but it isn't graphic or explicit. I try to veer away from M rated content in my stories but if I have to include it I'll make it like PG-13.

Either way enjoy

* * *

 _The Flash: Survival of the Fastest_

Chapter 16: A New Life Together

* * *

 **December 21 2017**

 **Barry and Caitlin's Home**

"Wow…" Barry said breathlessly as he let gravity take a hold of his body landing comfortably on his pillow. "That was… that was amazing…" He turned his head to the right to gaze lovingly at Caitlin. Sweat glistened off of them, giving them a soft glow. "I never thought of… using our powers like that…" Barry smirked.

"Perks of being speedsters." Caitlin smiled at her fiancé. Her heart fluttered thinking about how Barry was now her fiancé, the guy she had a crush on for a few years, dated for a couple of months had finally proposed to her. Caitlin smiled and turned onto her side so that she was facing him, the sheets covered her goods yet still left her slender legs completely visible. The space between her legs ached only a little from their seven intense yet passionate sessions of lovemaking, not that it hurt her. Caitlin could still feel his warm seed within her and that made her smile a little more, god she loved it. Maybe they were being a little reckless and maybe a little too fast with their love but neither of them could really contain their passion for the other as evidence per their long active night. "You'd think with accelerated metabolism we'd tire out after the round one." Caitlin wrapped Barry's arm around her while nestling her head onto Barry's shoulder.

"Accelerated healing seems to let us go the distance." Barry gave her a cheeky smile which earned him a pillow to the face. He recovered quickly enough to wrap his arms around her and flip them around so that he was on top. He leaned in and kissed her lips gently. "Ready for round eight?"

"I am, but are you?" Caitlin flirted back. She desperately wanted to feel more of him inside her, it was almost like she had become addicted to Barry Allen.

Barry smiled as he trailed passionate kisses from her lips to her chin then down her neck and to her exposed chest, while he positioned himself between her legs once more. "God, I love you Cait… I love everything about you."

"I love you too Barry."

Before they could restart they froze in place when they heard the front door open.

"Caitlin? Are you here?" Ben had arrived. "Barry's not at S.T.A.R. Labs, and I'm worried about him. You said he shouldn't leave."

"Uh, We're here Ben." Barry called to their future son.

"What? Why are you not resting at S.T.A.R. Labs Barry?" Ben asked. Barry and Caitlin were still frozen in place when they heard Ben grab the door handle and begin to turn it.

"Ben, what ever you do don't come in!" Caitlin yelled out.

Luckily Ben complied. "Uh, OK… I mean what can you possibly be doing?"

"Just Don't!" Caitlin yelled back.

"Alright, Alright, Alright…" Ben sounded confused but seemed to accept it. "I'm just going to go to sleep I guess… I'll see you guys in the morning. Good night."

"Good night Ben." Barry said. When he was sure Ben returned to his room he turned back to Caitlin. "So, where were we?"

* * *

 **December 22 2017**

 **West House**

Joe, Iris and Eddie were all standing in the living room by the Christmas tree waiting for the rest of their guests to arrive, so far Joe got RSVPs from Wally, Jesse, Cisco, Harry (begrudgingly) Ben, Barry and Caitlin. Even Jay, Kara had given them a notice that they will try to make it. The only one to not say they were coming was August.

"OK, here's another round of Grandma Esther's eggnog." Iris announced as she walked into the room with a tray supporting three mugs of the spiked eggnog.

"Thanks baby girl." Joe said as he picked his mug up.

Eddie took a sip of his eggnog. "No matter how many times I have this I'm always surprised by the amount of bourbon."

Joe sent a look his son-in-law's way. Sometimes he wished Iris didn't marry such a lightweight, but that was his daughter's choice. Joe knew he held no sway over her. "Wally, Jesse and Cisco should be arriving shortly."

"Oh!" Iris chirped as she put her mug down. "Caitlin called, she and Barry are going to get here a little later."

The door creaked slightly as it was opened and allowed wally, Jesse, Cisco and Harry entrance.

"Hohoho! Merry Christmas!" Wally said

"Hey bro!" Iris was immediately by the door embracing her brother, Jesse and then Cisco. Harry refused a hug.

"No Caitlin? Or Barry?" Cisco asked.

"Not yet." Iris said. "They said they'd be a little late, but I think they're just making excuses to be alone together."

"Maybe Barry's tardiness is overcoming Caitlin's punctuality." Wally joked.

Jesse shared a skeptical look. "I somehow doubt that."

There was another knock on the door and in walked Jay followed by Kara and her family.

"Hi everyone!" Supergirl called out happily.

Iris smiled as she gave Kara a hug. "How're you doing Kara?"

"Fine, just fought off an alien this morning." The girl of steel replied.

Alex mean while smiled and gave everyone hugs.

"Still no word from Oliver? Or anyone else from Star City?" Kara asked

Wally shook his head. "It's weird, Oliver vanished two months ago. Lauel told everyone Oliver is ill and being treated by a private physician. No one has heard from either of them. Detective Lance has become the acting mayor in Oliver's absence."

"Tell me again why haven't they asked Caitlin to look at him?" Supergirl asked "She is Barry's personal physician after all."

"Could be the fact they don't know who any of us are." Cisco said. "Wally and I went to Star City about a month ago to try and see Team Arrow but it's so weird. Not only did Felicity and Diggle not know who we were, they didn't even know each other and it really seems like no one has heard of The Green Arrow, The Black Canary, Spartan or any of Olliver's other protégés."

"Though, people were saying that some crazy female archer was running around Star City killing bad guys and robbing the rich." Wally added.

* * *

 **Star City**

A lone drug dealer was running through the streets of Star City trying to escape from the woman chasing him. "Damn it! What the hell is this woman?" There was a high pitch whistle in the air followed by an arrow piercing though his shoulder. "AGH!" There was a secondary bang as the arrow head shot off into the ground connected to some kind of steel cable pinning him in place.

" ** _Where do you think you're going_**?" He turned to see his pursuer standing on a fire escape armed with a bow and arrow. She wore a black leather suit that seemed to have armor on the shoulders, forearms and legs. Her head was covered in a black hood and she had two quivers, on on her right shoulder and another on her right hip.

"What is with you, you bitch!?" Quickly the archer drew and arroq from one of her quivers and fired it at him. the arrow pierced into his left hand followed by the sound of breaking glass. The drug dealer screamed in pair as a fluid was injected into his blood stream. his arm got super cold while black patches formed on his skin, indicators of frostbite. "WHAT THE HELL!"

" ** _You have three other appendages for me to target still. But you only have about fifteen minutes until you permanently loose that arm."_** She aimed another arrow at his leg. " ** _Tell me where those drugs are coming from_**!"

"Nnnnnngh! I DON'T KNOW! I BUY THEM FROM ANOTHER DEALER! AND I DON'T KNOW WHERE HE GETS THEM!"

" ** _Give me their name_**!"

"MARU!" The dealer screamed. "HER NAME IS MARU!"

" ** _Thanks_**." The assailant released her arrow into the dealer's heart. The glass in the arrow broke again and delivered the super cold liquid into his heart. An instant later the drug dealer was frozen in place. " ** _That's for selling to kids_**."

"Was that necessary Robin?" She turned to see Bobby standing near her.

"Don't act all high and mighty Bobby. You would have killed him yourself in a much more brutal fashion."

"Right, and between the two of us which one of us is the human lie detector?"

Robin rolled her eyes. "Whatever, how're Oliver and Laurel?" She asked

"No change with Oliver, he refuses to believe anything we say.

"And Laurel?"

"Adjusting. She's fabricated a story to cover for Oliver."

Robin rubbed her forehead. "We will have to let Oliver go eventually, but we cannot do that so long as he doesn't remember. He'll just have the entirety of the SCPD chase us. And who knows what will happen to Laurel."

* * *

 **Central City, West House**

About an hour later the front door clicked as it opened and Barry and Caitlin entered into the house.

"Hey guys." Barry greeted as he shed his jacket and helped Caitlin out of her's.

"Merry Christmas." Joe welcomed his adopted son with open arms. As Caitlin was embraced by Cisco and then by Iris.

"These are for you." Caitlin proceeded to hand gifts to Joe, Wally, Iris, Cisco, Jesse, Harry, Jay, and Kara.

"Thank you Snow. This was thoughtful." Harry smiled as he lightly shook his present.

"What took you guys so long to get here?" Iris asked as she placed her gift under the tree. It wasn't Christmas yet so they were not allowed to open their gifts early.

"Well, uh, guys." Barry spoke up to get everyone's attention. His voice quivered slightly but he still held a confident tone. "Caitlin and I have something very important to tell you all."

"What is it Barry?" Kara asked.

"We're engaged!" Caitlin happily lifted up her left hand showing off the ring Barry gave to her. Immediately the living room was filled with excitement and cheers. Iris, with speed that could probably make any of the other speedsters in the room jealous, enveloped Caitlin in a bone crushing hug.

"Oh, my god!" Kara, Iris and Jesse were super bubbly, hardly able to contain her excitement. "When did this happen!?"

"Can I be Maid of Honor?" Kara asked.

"Uh… I don't know…" Caitlin said. "I haven't put much of any thought into it at all."

"You didn't answer the question Cait, when did Barry ask you?" Cisco asked

"Two days ago." Caitlin said. "Barry asked me shortly after he woke up."

"And you didn't tell me you were planning this?" Iris asked Barry lightly pushed Barry's shoulder. "Come on Barry!"

"Uh, I was unconscious." Barry argued back. "And Caitlin already knew about it."

Caitlin just shrugged feigning innocence earning looks from the rest of the team. "I found the ring in his coat pocket a few months ago."

"Well, either way," Joe gave Caitlin a fatherly hug. "This makes you more family than before."

"Wait, if Barry proposed on the twentieth then where the hell were you two yesterday?" Wally asked. Barry and Caitlin shared a glance and looked away while red crept onto their faces.

"We went to my dad's cabin." Barry quickly said. "Caitlin thought getting out of the city for a day would help me recpver a ittle faster because I quote 'You can't just dive back into being the Flash after two months of inactivity.'"

"I did NOT say that!" Caitlin gawked. "I said you should not exert yourself too much." Barry cocked an eyebrow in her direction. They weren't exactly taking it easy, in fact they both were partaking in rather vigorous physical activities.

"Hey, what's going on?" Everyone almost on cue saw Ben entering into the Living room slowly.

"Merry Christmas Ben!" Caitlin hugged Ben just before Barry passed Ben the gift they had gotten him.

"Thanks Caitl-" He stopped midsentence when he saw the ring on Caitlin's finger and his eyes lit up like the Christmas tree Joe had set up at his house.

"Congratulations mom" Ben smiled widely as he embraced Caitlin in a hug before giving Barry a hug. "…If you do anything to hurt her dad I will kill you…" He whispered into Barry's ear garnering a chuckle from Barry.

"Wouldn't dream of it Ben."

"I know." Ben smiled "God I am so happy for you two! When's the wedding?" Ben asked

"We don't know yet, maybe next year." Caitlin said. "I was thinking late may early June."

Ben smiled. "Good choice mom."

Joe, standing atop the foot ladder, cleared his throat getting the attention of everyone. "When I look at everyone here, I see nothing but our family. We've grown a lot over the last four years." Joe looked over his whole family and smiled. "I am… proud and privileged that we are all a part of this family." Turning back to the tree, Joe placed the star atop the tree moments before Wally flipped the switch illuminating the room prompting everyone to really start the celebration. With smiles galore Team Flash talked, drank and ate enjoying their time together.

Halfway through the celebrations, Barry pulled Caitlin into the kitchen wanting to get a little alone time with her.

"What's the occasion Mr. Allen?"

Barry intertwined his fingers in Caitlin's and admired the ring he had given her just over twenty-four hours ago. "Nothing, I just can't believe how lucky I am to have you in my life."

"Don't lose sleep over it Barry."

Barry raised an eyebrow while Caitlin struggled to hold in a giggle. "I do recall both of us losing quite a few hours of sleep last night Cait."

Caitlin opened her mouth feigning shock. She was about to respond when Barry's lips connected with hers.

Barry spun her a round just a little so that he was facing the window. He opened his eyes and noticed snow falling through the window. A smile spread across his face as he planted a light kiss onto his fiancé's head but then he saw something, his reflection in the window was different.

Barry's reflection was identical to that of Zoom, or rather the decaying face of the Black Flash. In the brief moment that followed The Black Flash's form shifted into the form of Speed Demon. The flaming black speedster had an arm firmly wrapped around Caitlin's reflection, mirroring Barry in every movement as a reflection should, sending a cold fear down Barry's spine.

The scarlet speedster's eyes widened and after a brief blink his reflection had returned to normal, just gone as if it never happened.

* * *

 **January 23 2018**

 **Central City Picture News**

Iris sat at her desk plugging away at an article Derick and Daphne were writing for their class at Central City University. They had asked for her to proof read it and potentially help them any way she could that didn't involve her doing the work for them.

"So? What do you think?" Daphne asked.

Iris just held up a finger to indicate she wasn't finished reading yet. "And… done." Iris finished reading the document and looked up at her two protégés.

"So… what do you think?" Derick asked.

"I think this article you did regarding the growing fears of the people with the increased crime rates and because The Flash has been missing and how this will potentially impact nationwide politics is very interesting if not a little oh what's the word…"

"Ambitious?" Daphne asked

"Earnest?" Derick added

"I was going to say enthusiastic." Iris said. "Though I will say as journalists it should be more unbiased."

"What do you mean Iris?" Derick asked while his sister rolled her eyes.

"I mean, you wrote this article and its clearly biased towards what you describe are and I quote '…Meta-humans who are either trying to do the right thing or staying hidden.' End quote."

"Yes, because it is unfair for Meta-Humans who want nothing to do with being criminals or heroes, to be lumped together with criminals like Weather Wizard and Mirror Master, or really any of the other Meta-humans who have popped up since the Particle Accelerator went off."

"And that is your biased Opinion." Iris stood by her statement. "If you want to be a good journalist you need to tell the unbiased truth. If you publish a biased untrue report even once, your credibility crumbles."

"But reporters on every major news station are biased!" Derick argued but Daphne cut him off.

"Which is a problem." She shared a look with Iris. "Iris doesn't want us to be like those reporters who only talk about one side of the story and pretend the other side does not exist. She wants us to dig deeper because every story has three perspectives; The two sides and yours as an outside third party." Iris' phone began to buzz. She glanced at it to see that Eddie was calling her.

"Excuse me I have to take this." Iris stood up and answered her phone. "Hi Honey. Where am I? I'm at C.C.P.N. right now. Why? Oh, shoot! I almost forgot. I'll meet you there, babe." Iris smiled as she talked to her husband. "Buh-bye." Iris hung up her phone and turned back to the twins. "I'm sorry guys but I have to go." Iris said to the twins as she stood up and grabbed her jacket and bag

* * *

 **At a Crime Scene near Central City Park**

"Sorry I'm late Guys." Barry said as he ducked underneath the police tape. "I, well, I sort of lost track of time."

"You're not that late Barry." August said. "Looks like you're new fiance's got you to start being more punctual."

"Maybe, well what do we have?" Barry asked as he approached the covered body.

"Nothing good." Julian said as he drew back the canvas revealing the corpse. The skin was akin to stone in both color and texture while the body was withered resembling a skeleton missing all hair, nails and teeth while blood trailed from its eyes, nose, mouth and ears.

"What happened to him?" Barry asked

"We have no clue." Julian said "And with his body in such a decayed state we don't know how to ID him, there's no physical identification on him or in the area."

"it looks like he was moved here." Barry said putting on a pair of latex gloves. He began to re-comb the crime scene looking for any potential details they might have missed. until he noticed something underneath a dumpster. "I think I've got something." Barry reached down and picked up a small piece of glass with a 'V' on it. But Barry was more interested in the miniscule amount of red liquid on the glass.

"What is that?" August asked

"Looks like a piece of a vial." Barry said. "I'd need to take it to either my Lab or S.T.A.R. Labs to properly analyze it."

"Go on mate." Julian said. "In the mean time I'll try to get an ID on our body."

* * *

 **Uptown Keystone City**

Eddie stood outside the restaurant he and Iris had decided to meet at waiting for his wife. Over the last few months Eddie had noticed how often Iris was spending her time at STAR Labs beside Barry or with Caitlin and to be completely honest with himself it made him feel jealous.

It's not like Iris was intentionally or completely cutting him out of her life she was worried for Barry, her foster-brother, her 'first' love. Eddie sighed heavily. He glanced down the road and saw Iris' car pulling up and a smile formed on his face.

"Hi babe." Eddie greeted his wife with a passionate kiss.

"Sorry I was late Eddie, Derick and Daphne needed my help."

"You're really spending a lot of time with those two huh?" Eddie asked

Iris just shrugged a little. "Well, they've sort of become my own personal shadows. Never quite leaving me alone."

"Well, anyway Iris I've been thinking and… well I really need to talk to you." Eddie led her into the restaurant and they followed the hostess to their table. With a smile on his face Eddie took his wife's hands into his own

Iris smiled back confused as to what the special occasion was. "What has you so Happy Eddie?"

Eddie cleared his throat. "Well, Iris, you know how you've been saying how you want kids?" Iris' eyes lit up. She and Eddie had talked about it multiple times but every time Eddie shot it down because of Eobard Thawne.

"Eddie…"

"I was thinking that… well… maybe… we could try adoption." Eddie said a little quietly. "I know this might not be the best time but… I know you want this, and I know you will make an amazing mom… and for too long I've let the fear of The Reverse-Flash hold me back in this decision…I just want you to be happy Iris."

Iris smiled and was about to respond to Eddie when a whirlwind of lightning burst through the restaurant. And in the next instant Iris was gone.

Powerful arms were wrapped around Iris and before she knew it she was roughly draped over what felt like a horse's back. She glanced around to see the upper body of a man jetting out from where the horse's head was supposed to be. Her eyes widened. The Centaur was adorned in armor befitting of a legionnaire of Rome from Roman Times. Each leg of his lower half was wearing a golden greave decorated with golden winglets. In addition to the armor, he wore a black steel helmet with a large crimson plum, it honestly looked like it had been plucked from either _300_ or _Gladiator_. Upon first glance she wouldn't know who this was but Iris knew the moment she saw his eyes beneath his helm.

This centaur that was abducting her was Barry Allen.

* * *

 **Godspeed's Lair**

Something was wrong. Per, Godspeeds orders, Lightspeed had recruited the speedster from Earth 200 to abduct and silence Iris West Thawne before she revealed Godspeeds' true colors. For some reason, it hadn't been accomplished yet. The Oracle Abigale kept telling him Iris would live and because she could see every potential future, specifically the ones most likely to occur he had to take her words as an absolute.

Steeling himself Lightspeed armored up and raced out of their base he was not about to fail Godspeed.

"Where do you think you're going?" Lightspeed turned to see Olvida with her arms folded over her chest.

"It has been a month and Celeres has taken no action against Iris West. I'm thinking he is a hypocrite."

"Celeres is one of the most powerful speedsters in the Multiverse, even before his accident. Besides we may have larger issues."

"What?" Lightspeed asked confused.

* * *

 **The Bridge Connecting Central City and Keystone City**

"Barry?" Iris asked the Centaur Barry. She had no idea why he had abducted her but if this was an alternate version of Barry Allen there was a very good chance he was still the same Barry she knew.

A sneer seemed to flash across the mohawked Barry's face. "That's not my name. My name is-!" Centaur Barry was cut off when Cobalt Blue came barreling out of nowhere and punched him in the chest. In that same moment, Eddie quickly grabbed a hold of Iris and carried her a safe distance from the Centaur before unleashing a torrent of sapphire flames to swallow the centaur.

Centaur-Barry's body went limp as it burned before collapsing to the ground in a heap.

Eddie turned back to his wife. "Are you OK Iris? Did he hurt you?"

Iris just embraced her husband tightly. "I'm fine Eddie."

Feeling a presence behind them Eddie and Iris both turned to see the Centaur-Barry still standing. Blue flames and gray smoke wisped off of his body. Parts of his armor was scorched or burning but otherwise was intact.

"What are-" There was a rush of wind and yellow lightning. Both Eddie and Iris barely had time to react as Centaur Barry was immediately behind Cobalt Blue and making a swipe with a gladius at Eddie's neck.

Cobalt Blue moved out of the way as Fast as he could, carrying his wife a safe distance. "Iris! Go! Run!" He pleaded as Centaur-Barry turned to look at them.

"Running will do you no good Miss West." The Centaur said "I am already capable of keeping pace with your protector. What makes you think he can protect you from me." He charged Iris again only for Eddie to save his wife again. "You are quite Fast for one not connected to the Speed Force."

Eddie gave Centaur-Barry a confused look. He was saying Eddie was not connected to the Speed Force which was impossible, sure it manifested as flames rather than the typical lightning, but that didn't mean he wasn't connected to the Speed Force. "What the Hell are you talking about?" Eddie demanded.

Iris clung to her husband. Even if she wanted to run there was no way she'd get away fast enough. She reached into her pocket and clutched her phone pinging the alert app.

"Let's see how far that little jewel of yours can take you!" In another flurry of yellow lightning Centaur-Barry charged Eddie at Speeds that made Every other speedster look slow by comparison. His sword pierced through Eddie's face and Iris squealed in surprised horror. Eddie's form collapsed into a mass of blue flames and dissipated. Centaur-Barry turned to see Eddie behind him once again. "Hmm, I could have sworn I got you there."

Eddie felt a small cut open on his cheek and his blood trickled down. "Just what they hell are you?" Eddie asked. Even in an infinite Multi-verse creatures like Centaurs couldn't possibly exist, could they? "And how are you still alive after I burned you?"

"I am Bartiatus Herennius Allectius." Centaur Barry introduced himself. "Decurion of Legio Prima Americae of the Glorious Roman Empire. You may address me as Celeres."

"Hate to be the bearer of bad news buddy but the Roman Empire collapsed 2000 years ago. You're a little out of your time." Celeres turned to Iris who was now standing close by.

Celeres smirked. "Perhaps upon this Earth Glorious Rome fell to the Barbarian Hordes but where I am from Rome truly conquered the world, it only took a few Centuries but we managed to conquer it all."

Iris noticed that all of Celeres' burned skin had healed much like every other speedster's only much faster.

"How are you already healed? No speedster heals that quickly." Iris argued

Celeres smirked. "This may seem hard to believe but my body is immortal. I do not age and I do not die. My Immortality comes from Mercury's Blessing himself."

"What about those legs?" iris asked gesturing to the obvious horse part of him.

"Oh this? This a result of a singular injury from Death himself." He smirked to himself.

"I don't care where you got them from." Iris and Celeres turned to see Eddie wielding a large blade made from his blue flames. "Get the Hell away from her!" Eddie ran forward with everything he had and slashed Celeres multiple times, each wound became engulfed in azure flames that quickly consumed the centaur until there was nothing left but ashes.

"Eddie!" Iris cried out to her husband as he gave her a smile.

"You're going to have to try harder than that." Eddie and Iris turned to see Celeres Standing not too far from them perfectly fine.

"That's… that's impossible. I burned you to ash!"

The centaur chuckled. "No, you did not." He slowly began to advance towards.

Overwhelming fear gripped Eddie as he turned back to his wife. "Iris you have to run. Go get Barry! Get anyone! I will hold him off as long as I can!"

"I'm not leaving you Eddie!"

"GO!" Eddie used his abilities to create a wall of blue flames separating Iris from the fight.

Iris watched helplessly from behind the flames, everything was obscured with nothing for her to do. Heeding Eddie's wish Iris turned on her heels and sprinted in the opposite direction ignoring the tears stinging her eyes.

* * *

 **S.T.A.R. Labs Roof**

Ben exited the roof access corridor to the fairly open area of the roof. He had called August and the other speedster said to meet him on the roof of S.T.A.R. Labs. Things had been getting out of hand recently and everything seemed to point to August. He was getting mroe and more violent each time he went out into the field. It made him think back to a conversation he had with Iris months ago, how she thought Ben had come back to stop August not some random speedster known as Lightspeed.

"August?" Ben called out wondering if his friend was here. That was honestly a funny thought. How could he doubt that August was his friend. After all He was Barry's greatest protege and even went on to teach Ben a thing or two about being a speedster. Perhaps there was a reason to August's more vicious method of taking down criminals. Perhaps everything that was happening now was Ben's fault for meddling in the past, but he wasn't really meddling in the past he was actively involving himself in his own past, in a way ensuring that it happens accordingly.

"Hey man, if you're up he I need to talk to you."

"I'm over here." The other man said.

"Hey man, I wanted to ask you something." Ben said as he approached his friend. Ben noticed August had a few things with him such as a duffel bag. "Are you going somewhere?"

August stood up and turned to Ben. "I am, but before I go, I think we need to have a little chat."

* * *

 **S.T.A.R. Labs, Caitlin's Lab**

"Are you thinking we should slow down a little?" Barry asked.

"Considering our close calls have been on the rise as of late we may have to limit this to the bedroom." Caitlin said as she finished buttoning her blouse. "Barry have you seen my Skirt?" Caitlin asked as she rummaged through her office wearing nothing but a white blouse.

"Bottom drawer." Barry replied while buttoning up his pants. The fastest man alive was unable to take his eyes off of his fiancé. Caitlin's skirt was half handing out of the bottom drawer of her desk

Caitlin smirked to herself knowing Barry was watching. She opened the drawer and bent over to get her skirt giving Barry a full view of the black lace panties hidden under her blouse. "Like what you see Barry?"

"I… Uh… I" Barry was at a complete loss for words when he gazed at Caitlin's perfect ass. He bit his lip hard and averted his gaze while he struggled to picture anything except Caitlin's sweet voluptuous ass that taunted him with her black laced panties that hugged her curves and exemplified some of her best features.

Luckily for Barry it was in this moment that both of their phones pinged.

"You get the same alert?" Caitlin asked looking at the distress call.

"It's Iris, she's in trouble coming from Uptown Keystone."

"Go!" Caitlin commanded. "I'll catch up!"

Sharing one more kiss Barry took off putting on his suit just before running off.

* * *

 **Central City side of the Bridge**

Moments later Barry slid to a stop right in front of Iris giving her a small start.

"Barry!" she cried out embracing him. "It's Eddie! He… he told me to run…"

"Iris… slow down… where is he?"

"Ah… you must be the Flash I have heard about." Barry felt Iris stiffen before turning to the source of the voice eerily familiar to his own. "I'm actually surprised. I was told that you were dead." Standing near them was Celeres, the Roman Centaur version of Barry, clutching eddie by a fistful of the blonde detective's hair. Cobalt blue looked horrible. His flames had all but died out while blood decorated most of his face and suit.

"EDDIE!"

"What did you do to him!?"

"This fool though he could stop me." Celeres held up the motionless Eddie while drawing his sword. "He is nothing, in fact I have already forgotten his name."

"Let him go!" Barry demanded.

From beneath his helm Celeres smirked. "My benefactor much prefers that I kill this man, he is inconsequential after all. I only came for her." He pointed his sword at Iris.

Barry positioned himself protectively between Iris and the Centaur. "You're not going to touch her. You're going to let him go, and you are going to leave."

"You know, in all my years I have never fought another version of myself." The centaur tossed Eddie's body to the side. "This might prove to be enjoyable."

Red lightning flashed in Barry's eyes for a moment before he and Celeres charged each other.

* * *

This is the end of the chapter

Please tell me what you liked, didn't like, look forward to/think will happen, or your general thoughts and comments, this will help me make the story better; I'm a big boy so I can take criticism. And if you Review you get a Shout Out and questions answered either privately or in the next chapter.

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Have a Fantastic day


	18. Celeres the Centaur

**Disclaimer:** The following is a nonprofit Fan based story; The FLASH and all related characters are owned by DC comics, the CW and anyone I may have missed.

Like I always seem to say to the point of redundancy (doesn't mean it's any less true) I love everyone who Reviews, Favorites and or Follows any of my stories. Again, if I didn't respond I apologize and just let me know.

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 **Galpalcj:** Something was going on with Fanfiction when i posted chapter 15. I'm pretty sure it is fixed now. As for why the bad guys want Iris its because she's the only one who wasn't affected by Olvida, and she's getting closer to the truth.

Favorites: **Ashley41805** and **primus light bringer**

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Also, please share this on any social media platform you see fit, get the word out if you love it so much AReiss215 gave me the idea to get it out there the only problem is I am not that involved with the social medias (no twitter, Insta, facebook, etc.) so it is totally cool for you guys to do that on my behalf if you want because I would love for the whole fandom to read this. Hell, I would love it if the stars, writers and Producers of the shows saw this!

This was supposed to come out a week ago but I just could not get this one part to flow the way I wanted it so forgive me if it feels jumpy. Its meant to speed up the story's flow cause otherwise we'll be here for the next decade or so.

* * *

 _The Flash: Survival of the Fastest_

Chapter 17: Celeres the Centaur

* * *

 **S.T.A.R. Labs, Caitlin's Lab**

Moments after Barry had left Caitlin ran to grab her suit and almost immediately she was slammed with a tidal wave of nausea. In a flash of blue lightning Caitlin hovered over her garbage can desperately trying to empty her stomach of everything to the point she was dry heaving.

She somehow caught a twenty-four-hour bug, probably from Cisco since he had it about three days ago. She didn't exactly tell anyone about it since, in Barry's case he'd probably assume she was pregnant, which was highly unlikely.

Caitlin would not have sex with Barry unless she was being careful. And by careful she meticulously planned every one of their passionate moments around her cycle. It was the only way for either of them to be safe. Caitlin's accelerated metabolism caused her to burn through contraceptives almost immediately while Barry's speed rendered condoms useless as they could not withstand the friction, force or even stop Barry's sperm from phasing though, they learned that one the hard way.

"Caitlin you're still here?" Caitlin looked up to see Cisco approaching her. "What's wrong? Are you sick? I thought Speedsters couldn't get sick."

"I'm fine Cisco." Caitlin said. "Just going through a twenty-four-hour bug in less than half the time." She started to make her way towards her suit but Cisco stood in her way.

Cisco gave Caitlin a concerned look. If she wasn't feeling well she should not go into the field. "Maybe you should sit this one out Caitlin. Barry would be pissed if you go out there and get hurt because you are not in optimal health.

Caitlin thought for a moment then sighed in defeat, Cisco was right. "Fine, I'll stay here and rest for a little while."

"I can get you some crackers and ginger ale if you want." There was a dinging noise that interrupted Cisco and Caitlin. Caitlin walked over to her computer. "What's that?" Cisco asked.

"Barry found something at a crime scene. He ran it through their data base and found nothing so he asked me to figure it out." Caitlin hit a few keys her computer and her centrifuge opened up exposing a vial of red liquid.

"So, what is it?"

"I don't know." Caitlin replied. "The sample Barry gave me was too small to run any tests so I had to reverse engineer it. The theory is it's a new kind of poison."

"What do you think?" Cisco asked

"Like I said, I don't know what it is or how it was made. I cannot get the molecules to bond in the same way, it's almost like they are forced together. Which is goes against everything I know about chemistry."

Cisco smiled a little. "Well, let me help you Caitlin, after all we are self-proclaimed experts on all things unusual."

* * *

 **Somewhere in Central City**

Yellow Lightning danced around Central City as Barry and Celeres fought. The Centaur tried to strike the Flash with either his sword or his horse legs. The two were evenly matched in terms of speed though between the two of them Celeres had much more combat experience managing to actually land a few small cuts to Barry's suit, but never drawing blood.

"My quarrel is not with you Flash." Celeres said. "I have solely come for her." He pointed his sword in Iris' direction.

"You won't touch her." Barry sneered.

"We shall see." Celeres charged again this time moving much faster than before. He reared onto his hind legs before slamming his front hooves into Barry's chest. The Flash felt his bones crack and, more likely than not, break.

"We may look to be physically the same person Flash, but I hold much more skill." Celeres swiped his sword at the staggering Barry catching him across his stomach leaving a light gash. The centaur then proceeded to wipe the blood from his blade. "The God Mercury blessed me with my speed near two centuries ago. On top of that, his blessing allowed me to transfer my god like speed to others such as my faithful stallion."

"There's no such things as gods." Barry said clutching his aching chest. He was in so much pain that it was difficult to breath properly. "I've met a 'god' before and he was nothing more than a man in a suit." Unbeknownst to Barry his bones were already starting to heal at an abnormal rate, by his standards. "You weren't blessed by a god. You just have a large connection to the Speed Force."

"Gods are real." Celeres said. "Has it ever occurred to you that not everyone in the infinite multiverse refers to it as the Speed Force? On my Earth, we call it Mercury's Blessing." Lightning flashed around Celeres before charging Barry with even more speed, transferring more Speed Force into his horse legs.

"What do you want with Iris?" Barry demanded.

"She was promised to me." Celeres said quietly. "The man who saved my life and gifted me my equine lower half asked me to remove Iris West any way I saw fit… When I saw her a month ago I was haunted by her visage."

"Why?"

"Your Iris West… is the doppelganger of my late wife…" Celeres said. "I was promised her, and I will have her!"

It was faster than Barry expected. He would have surely been dead if two things did not happen. One, red lightning flashed in his eyes and two, his instincts took over. Barry caught Celeres' sword and an instant later it aged seemingly a few centuries before crumbling into numerous shards.

Barry's lightning arced up Celeres' arm and the unexpected happened. Celere's arm turned black withered. Its flesh decayed and floated off turning to dust followed by the muscles and everything else until it was nothing but seemingly fossilized bone.

In that moment, something happened to all the speedsters Barry had made connections with.

* * *

 **Downtown Central City**

Wally was running through Central City making his way to where Iris' distress signal originated when suddenly he felt an intense shock course through his body. Pain that felt nearly identical to when he was pulled into the Speed Force flared up all over him. Wally screamed in pain for what felt like a hour wishing, hoping that it would stop.

* * *

 **Earth-2, Central City, S.T.A.R. Labs**

Jesse Quick was running some tests with her Father when it happened. The Speed Force Flared up inside her and unleashed a massive electrical discharge shocking the poor girl and horrifying her father

"JESSE!" He screamed. Harry reached out for his daughter but was thrown back by an unknown force.

* * *

 **Earth-3, Central City**

Jay Garrick was in the middle of protecting his city from the recently escaped Thorn and her accomplice, his earth's version of Killer Frost; Crystal Frost, when he was suddenly assaulted by the Speed Force inside him. Something was not right as Jay collapsed to the ground. He looked up to see Thorn and Killer Frost standing triumphantly over him.

"What's the matter Flash? Age finally catching up to you?" Crystal asked while Rhosyn smirked.

* * *

 **Earth-Prime, Central City, S.T.A.R. Labs, Caitlin's Lab**

Meanwhile in Caitlin's Lab the young biochemist was analyzing the evidence Barry had given her when she was suddenly engulfed in blue lightning. It felt a thousand times worse than the time when Future Barry accidentally shredded her chest and nearly destroyed her heart. Out of all the speedster currently being affected Caitlin had it worst of all.

"Hey Caitlin I was running some additional test and I think-" Cisco stopped in shock as he saw his best friend in pain. "CAITLIN!" Cisco rushed to her side but just like Harry on Earth-2 he could not approach her and could only sit back as she and every other speedster that knew Barry writhed in excruciating pain.

* * *

 **With Barry and Celeres**

"AGH!" Celeres screamed in pain as the bone fell from his arm with nothing holding it in place. "MY ARM! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!"

Barry stared at the stump of Celeres' arm before looking at his own hand. His eyes wifdened in shock and fear. What had just happened? He glanced over his shoulder to see Iris looking on in equal horror.

Celeres gazed upon The Flash and allowed fear to wash over him. He was so petrified his body refused to move according to his wishes and not just because of the black lightning chains immobilizing him. Memories came rushing back to him, memories of his greatest defeat.

* * *

 **Sextilis (Augustus) XXIX, MMDCXLXIX**

 **[August 29, 2769 IR]**

 **Earth 476 – Americae Septentrionalis, Outside Roma Centralis**

Earth 476, The reality where Rome never collapsed. A reality where the military power of Rome only grew until it encompassed the globe and Sol's Glory never set upon their mighty empire. The only force that rose up to challenge them was the combined might of Atlantis and The Amazons of Themyscira. If not for Mars himself aiding them, Rome surely would have been defeated.

Two thousand years later Rome was still the sole superpower of the world. None could oppose them not when their praetors wielded the powers of the gods, Mars, Jupiter, Mercury, and Vulcan chiefly.

Bartiatus Herennius Allectius sat upon his stallion before his army. There had been a rebellion calling themselves Improbos Libertis [The Rogues] and it was Bartiatus' task to quell the rebellion by any means necessary.

"CHARGE!" Bartiatus commanded as he and his cavalry unit reared and galloped forward. Golden lightning gifted to him by the God Mercury amplified his horse's already impressive power allowing his soldiers to seemingly shake the very earth beneath their hooves.

Dozens of onagers unleashed a rain of fireballs towards the Improbos Libertis while Sagittarii unleashed an even more massive barrage of arrows at their enemies.

At the same time Improbos Libertis' forces charged towards the oncoming cavalry. Like many of the nations occupied by Rome Rebellions popped up every one in a while and it was the duty of the Praetor to crush the rebellions before they grew too much.

Bartiatus' cavalry swept through the Improbos Libertis like a hot knife through butter. Limbs blood and gore flew with every swing of a blade staining the lands.

Through the smoke and the stench of blood Celeres saw her, the leader of Improbos Libertis, a former slave turned champion of Aquilo going by the name Glacies. She brought winter wherever she went.

"GLACIES!" Bartiatus screamed her name as he charged her with his gladius drawn.

"CELERES!" The woman cried back with equal venom as she formed a long hasta out of blue ice to combat the horseman.

Lightning crackled and thunder boomed when steel met ice. Glacies' weapons were forged of the strongest ice allowing them to fight equally with roman steel.

The battle between the Praetor of Roma Centralis and the leader of Improbos Libertis lasted for a minute.

Celeres' horse snorted and allowed the power of Mercury to run through his veins as Celeres readied himself for one more pass. Glacies, however, saw thie coming. With a wave of her wrist the entire battle field became coated in a layer of ice, trapping all of Bartiatus' men in place while leaving Improbos Libertis free to continue the fight.

Celeres' horse leaped over the oncoming ice but slipped when he landed. The horse panicked and reared losing the rest of his balance throwing Bartiatus from his back. Wasting no time Glacies blasted Bartiatus' legs completely encasing them in subzero winds. Celeres watched in horror his horse fell backwards onto his legs, shattering them.

Bartiatus howled in pain. He tried to lift the horse but the horse continued to struggle to get back up only for Glacies' spear to pierce into its' side. The Horse whinnied in pain as ice spread from the wound freezing the horse.

The battle around the two quickly turned into a massacre as Improbos Libertis quickly slaughtered any and all immobilized Roman soldiers and Celeres could do nothing but watch his brothers and sisters fall one by one.

"It's over Celeres." Glacies said as she pointed another blue ice hasta at Bartiatus' neck. "We won."

"Rome… will never surrender the city." Celeres said defiantly. "You might as well kill us."

Out of the corner of his eye he saw a black figure standing on a hill watching everything unfold. The next instant he was seemingly everywhere and everyone Celeres shared the power of Mercury with collapsed drained and or dead. Until finally it stood directly behind Glacies but she didn't seem to notice that thing's presence.

Glacies raised her hasta ready to plunge it into Celeres' chest. The Roman speedster could see her hands were shaking. For as long as he's known her Bartiatus had never once seen her take a human life.

She closed her eyes and plunged the spear only to narrowly miss Celeres' entire body. "I… I can't do it…" She said through tears. "Even after everything… I can't kill you…"

Celeres was quite surprised. This woman had been one of his wife's slaves. By no means had Bartiatus or his wife treated her well from doing shit jobs around their villa to being just a tool for Bartiatus and his wife to express any of their desires of flesh and pleasure.

" _You're with child, aren't you?"_ Glacies thought back to the day it all started. " _How could Juno bless you with a child and leave me barren!"_ During her tenure as Bartiatus' slave she was ordered to lay with him. From that night, she was blessed with a child by Bartiatus, unfortunately Bartiatus' wife didn't see it as a blessing, more like an insult. One night Bartiatus' Wife pushed Glacies down the stone steps of their villa injuring the woman and forcing her to have a miscarriage. Years of abuse and losing her child pushed her over the edge.

"Why…?" She cried "After everything you and your wife put me through…You took away my freedom… my sanity… even my-" Glacies was cut off when an arm pierced through her chest. She looked down at it stunned for a moment before completely going limp and falling away. Standing above Bartiatus was another speedster clad in white.

In a heartbeat, every member of Improbos Libertis was dead and the white speedster was flanked by two others.

"Who…? Who are you?" Celeres demanded.

The white clad speedster crouched down to Celeres' level. " ** _My name is Godspeed."_** He spoke in perfect Latin. " ** _You appear to be in need of some assistance."_**

"Please…" Bartiatus swallowed his pride for these men, these demigods. "whoever you are… I am in your debt…"

" ** _Not quite yet."_** The larger man wearing the golden armor and white robe flashed over and hoisted Bartiatus over his shoulder. " ** _First, we need to do something about your legs, after all what good is a speedster who cannot run?"_**

From there they went to Earth 131216 and attacked that Earth's resident Speed Force Conduit. Godspeed removed the horse's head while Lightspeed and Mindsweeper removed everything below Bartiatus' waist. Using highly advanced technology from an alternate Earth, Bartiatus felt muscles, tendons, ligaments nerves everything fuse with the body of the horse.

Celeres looked over his new legs quite impressed at their handy work. "This… this is impossible…"

" ** _Perhaps in your reality it was impossible_**." Godspeed said. " ** _But in the infinity of the Multiverse anything is possible."_**

"How can I ever repay you?" Celeres asked.

" ** _When the time comes we shall call upon you."_** Lightspeed said. " ** _Until then enjoy the new legs_**."

" ** _Oh, before I forget, because those legs are not your original legs your special ability to transfer and add speed to anything still applies to them."_** Godspeed said giving Celeres a small wave before vanishing in a flash of light.

* * *

 **Present Day**

 **Earth-Prime, Central City**

"I… I don't… I'm sorry…" Barry said frantically trying to apologize to his doppelganger. He didn't mean to do what he had done.

"What… What are you?" Celeres demanded. In an instant, he recomposed himself and struck Barry with his hind legs launching him into a building.

"FLASH!" Iris yelled out horrified before she felt Celeres wrap an arm around her and gallop as far from Barry as he could.

* * *

 **S.T.A.R. Labs, Caitlin's Lab**

Caitlin's eyes fluttered open slightly disoriented before she noticed she was lying on the gurney.

"What happened?" Caitlin asked as she turned to see cisco looking at her worried.

"I don't know." Cisco said. "You suddenly were shrouded in electricity before you collapsed and passed out.

Caitlin shifted to sit more upright. Cisco tried to stop her but Caitlin waved him off. "I'm fine Cisco."

"No Caitlin, you aren't." Cisco said. "First you were sick and then whatever just happened to you happened. I cannot on good conscious let you potentially injure yourself."

There was a whoosh of air as Wally staggered into the lab. "WALLY!" Caitlin practically yelled.

"Hey guys…" Wally's breathing was ragged almost as if he were exhausted.

"What happened?" Caitlin asked.

"I was running to get to my sister when I was suddenly blasted with energy." Wally sort of described the scene and Cisco shared a look with Caitlin as it sounded eerily familiar to her ordeal. "It was… it was scary similar to when Savitar pulled me into the Speed Force, only worse. It almost felt like-"

"Like you were dying…" Caitlin said with complete understanding.

"Caitlin experienced the same thing." Cisco said. "Best I can figure it was some sort of Speed Seizure, only a lot worse than a real seizure."

* * *

 **Central City, 5th Avenue**

Celeres galloped as fast as he could, trying to generate enough Speed Force so he could vibrate at his original frequency and return to his earth with Iris. However, losing his arm and the added body was making it difficult until a small amount of hope flickered into focus as an interdimensional breach began to form in front of him.

Iris' voice pleaded with him to let her go but he would not. He was promised Iris West and that was all he wanted. He wanted his wife back, it may take some time but he was certain Iris would come to love him as he loves her.

The small blue wormhole struggled to grow larger but then crimson flames began to flicker into existence in the middle of the wormhole in between Iris and Celeres. The Centaur didn't bother to stop not even when the flames exploded outward into a violent ring of red flames.

It all happened extremely fast. From the flames, a black humanoid shape formed and slowly walked forward. To anyone watching it looked strikingly similar to scenes from _The Hobbit Trilogy_ Where Sauron revealed himself as a black figure in the center of the flaming eye. The Flames dispelled revealing the singular black armored speedster. He formed a scythe out of crimson and black Speed Force energy and in a single fluid motion he swept the scythe through Celeres' legs causing him to tumble along the road while flinging Iris into the air.

Iris screamed as she rapidly approached the pavement but someone caught her in a pair of strong warm arms. She looked up at her savior and was terrified. For the first time Iris saw the rumored Speed Demon clearly and she was consumed by fear. The man, if he could even be called that looked like a devil. The skull shaped helmet wreathed in flames, the horn like lightning bolts flanking it contrasted perfectly in the glow of the fire, while his armor, black claws and spikes on his forearms and shins glistened against the sunlight. Everything about him insinuated terror, not even Savitar could compare to him.

In that singular moment Iris looked into the eyes of his helmet. While they could not be called eyes since they were more of a window into a raging firestorm, Iris could have sworn she saw a hint of recognition within them. She thought her life was going to end right there but the unexpected happened, Speed Demon put her down gently.

The roman centaur was struggling to get up when Speed Demon threw his right hand in his direction. Iris saw a faint blue glow from around his left middle finger before his entire body seemingly burst into crimson flames, tendrils of black lightning flew from the flames lashing out at everything they could reach. Iris shielded her eyes from the brilliant light and Celeres tried to flee but the black lightning reached out and wrapped around Celeres like obsidian chains.

"What is this?" The Centaur demanded as he found himself immobilized. The flames of Speed Demon cast the devilish speedster's black shadow over the centaur. He looked up to see Speed Demon.

"Go on!" Celeres yelled. "Kill me!"

Speed Demon reached out and grabbed Celeres' neck with his left hand and hoisted him up to look him in the eye. He drew back his right hand and allowed it to vibrate violently while being engulfed in vermillion flames and black lightning.

"WAIT!"

Speed Demon stopped and glanced back towards Iris. She was pleading for Celeres' life and even though no one could see it due to the black horned skull helm, he seemed to give Iris a somber look before punching Celeres across his jaw.

For a brief moment, he shared a look with iris emitting a low growl. There was an uncanny familiarity about the interaction. For Iris Speed Demon was looking at her the same way Eddie and, to a certain extent, Barry did

Celeres watched terrified for his life unsure how the next moment would playout. Speed Demon roughly grabbed his collar and began to run until they both vanished into a flaming portal.

Iris was left absolutely breathless after her ordeal. She didn't know why but Speed Demon had just saved her, but the real question was why?

There were several whooshes and crackles of lightning and she was surrounded by Wally, Caitlin and Eddie.

"EDDIE!" Iris ran up and embraced her husband. He definitely had been through the ringer but it was a relief he had advanced healing.

"Iris… I'm so glad you're ok…" Eddie whispered into the crook of her neck.

"I'm OK Eddie…" Iris breathed quietly.

"What happened Iris? Eddie said there was this centaur guy." Wally was worried for his sister, it seemed quite a lot of messed up speedsters wanted her for one reason or another, mainly due to her connection to Team Flash.

"I'm fine guys… but… where's Barry?" Iris asked looking for Barry.

"We thought he was with you." Caitlin said.

"He was but he was hurt… guys… I think something's wrong with Barry." Iris watched as concern overcame Caitlin's face. "When he touched Celeres, that's the centaur's name, His sword and arm… they… they turned to dust, like Barry rapidly aged them to nothing."

"He did what?" Caitlin asked not wanting to believe what she was hearing.

* * *

 **S.T.A.R. Labs, Cortex**

After saving Iris Team Flash's speedsters returned to the Lab with Iris to regroup. Currently everyone was present, though three members of their team were still missing in action, Ben, August and the man of the hour Barry.

"So, both of you had 'Speed Seizures?'" Joe looked to Cisco to see if he was saying it correctly before turning back to Caitlin and Wally.

"Yeah, but we are totally fine now." Wally said.

"It can't be a coincidence you two got those surges. And if we are correct it happened moments after Barry supposedly aged Celere's arm to nothing." Cisco said

"Are you suggesting that this is all connected?" Joe asked. "But what about Ben and August? Did they have these Seizures?"

"We don't know yet." Caitlin said. "We haven't heard from either of them."

"And still nothing from Barry?" Joe asked.

"Nothing, it's like he's not even on this Earth anymore." Almost on cue there was a rush of wind and the crackle of lightning before Barry was standing in the middle of the group.

"Barry!" Caitlin embraced her fiancé tightly. "We were so worried!"

"I'm fine Caitlin." Barry kissed her forehead gently. "Just a little winded that's all."

"Iris?! Oh, thank god you are all right!" Barry moved towards her and embraced Iris. "When Celeres ran off with you I thought you would be gone forever."

"I'm fine Barry, honestly we're far more worried about you." Barry looked from Iris to every other member of Team Flash.

"Why?" He asked.

"Barry, what happened? You've been missing for a few hours." Caitlin countered.

"Hours!?" Barry sounded surprised. "What are you talking about? I came right here when I couldn't find Celeres or Iris." Everyone exchanged confused looks.

"That was two hours ago Barry." Wally said. "We've all been here looking for you."

"Yeah, we lost all signals from your suit and when we checked where you were you were gone." Cisco added.

Barry turned away from the group trying to process what he was told. "How can I be missing hours of my life?"

"Maybe it is similar to Ben's blackouts." Caitlin said

"I thought Ben hasn't had a blackout in months." Barry turned to Caitlin.

"He hasn't but still with the way our lives go there are never coincidences." Caitlin added. "Please Barry… let me run some tests… just to be sure you're alright."

* * *

 **A Few Hours Later**

Caitlin ran a few tests on Barry but they revealed nothing out of the ordinary. Meanwhile Team Flash was joined by Harry, Jesse and Jay once again.

Jay and Jesse rested in the medical bay with Caitlin patching up the older speedster. He had multiple lacerations and mild hypothermia.

"You were saying you had some kind of seizure?" Caitlin asked the older speedster.

"That's correct." Jay said as he picked up his helmet from the nearby table. "It happened at the most improper time, right when I was fighting two of my Rouges. I almost did not recover fast enough."

"Even though my Dad is worried I'm actually fine." Jesse said. "A little winded but fine."

Caitlin shrugged. "Well, it never hurts to run a few tests. Especially if they'll shut your dad up."

"Thanks Caitlin." Jesse smiled.

"And look, I promise, whatever seems to be affecting us we will find out what it is and put a stop to it."

"If anyone can figure it out you certainly can Dr. Snow." The older flash said

"Thank you, Jay."

The three speedsters proceeded to file out of Caitlin's lab and meet the rest of the Team in the Cortex. By this time Ben had rejoined them.

"You beat Celeres Barry?" Caitlin heard as they entered into the cortex. "I've only ever heard about him but I've heard he commanded an army of speedsters similar to Lightspeed. On top of that he could give inordinate amounts of speed to ordinary humans."

"Did you know the guy was Barry's doppelgänger? Or that he was a centaur?" Iris asked. Ben shook his head.

"I've only known what I told you guys, but if Lightspeed recruited him he must be getting desperate." Ben pondered for a moment.

"Hey Ben, where's August?" Cisco asked. "He's been missing for the last few hours."

"Yeah and we could have used Godspeed's help with Celeres." Barry said.

"August… well, he left." Ben said. Everyone turned to Barry's future son.

"He left? What do you mean he left?" Wally asked.

"I met him up on the roof," Ben shared a look with Iris. "Mainly because Iris mentioned something to me that was strange. When I confronted him on the roof he…well, August quit being a hero. Hung up his suit and went home to Coast City." Ben shrugged his shoulders. "He said something about failing the city by killing criminals."

Barry ran a hand through his hair. He had heard about how Godspeed killed some men holding the courthouse hostage yesterday and while he didn't agree with his methods he couldn't exactly fault him for it. how could he not be OK with August doing it but let Oliver kill on a regular basis. "He left without saying goodbye?"

"August said he's never been good at goodbyes which is why he tries to slip away before anyone notices. Unfortunately for him I caught him just before he left." Ben pulled out the package August had given him. "He said he wanted me to have this."

"What is it?" Wally asked

"No clue." Ben fiddled with the edge of the envelope before opening it. He reached in while everyone watched, and removed the contents. Ben stood in front of the group holding August's Godspeed suit.

A note fell out of the folded suit prompting Ben to put the suit down and pick up the note. Everyone gathered around to listen to him as he read it aloud.

" _Ben,_

 _I know this might seem sudden, after all we have only known each other for a short while but I feel like we've known each other forever. That is why I am entrusting you to be Godspeed in my place. I cannot do it; my thoughts are divided and I must pour my focus into locating my brother. I cannot be the city this hero deserves when my thoughts are not of the city. I want you to carry on in my stead._

 _Be the hero I cannot be_

 _Your Friend,_

 _August Heart, Godspeed"_

"He's really gone?" Caitlin asked.

"I can't believe he'd quit." Barry said. None of them had ever met a hero who quite before. None of their contemporaries would ever give up the hero life, they'd think about it but in the end, this was their life.

"I mean, he might not have been perfect but August was trying to be a good person." Wally said.

Iris stood by listening, part of her couldn't help but feel that this was somehow her fault, she had run her findings by Ben and he had gone to talk with August after that and now he was gone.

"So what happens now?" Joe asked

"I think I should follow August's request." Ben said in a flash of golden lightning Ben stood in front of the team wearing the white suit of Godspeed, just with the cowl down. "Well, what do you guys think? You're looking at the new Godspeed."

"Looks good on you." Caitlin told her son with a smile.

"You think so?" Ben looked down at the suit. "I was always nervous about the potential of taking on Dad's mantel, but now, I feel like I can really come into my own as the new Godspeed rather than another Flash."

"Welcome to the team Godspeed." Barry said smiling as he offered his hand to Ben to reintroduce him to the team.

"I promise Barry, I'll make both you and August proud."

* * *

 **That Night**

 **Barry and Caitlin's Apartment**

Barry tossed and turned slightly in his sleep. He opened his eyes and sat up. He looked over to Caitlin and smiled. He lightly brushed some of her hair out of her beautiful face before getting out of the bed. He trudged to the bathroom to splash some water in his face. When he looked up he saw a horrendous reflection in the mirror.

His face was similar to Zolomon's. The left side of his face had decayed to such an extent there were only small amounts of flesh and muscle hanging onto his bones. His hazel eyes had lost their color only retaining pale white irises while his nose was nothing but a hole in the middle of his face.

Barry was startled slightly and took a step back losing his balance and falling over. Barry fell backwards and hit his head against the shower door. The force was enough to force Barry's mind to darken and drift.

When his vision returned he found himself standing in a large field. To his right was Celeres, bound in black lightning and in front of him rested a large horse laying in the grass.

Her great form was easily twice the size of Earth's largest horse breed and it seemed to give off Speed Force energy in colossal waves. Whatever this horse was Barry could feel the power, more than any other speedster.

" _You bring before me the one responsible for murdering my child."_ Her voice echoed in Barry's head like thunder. It was strange, for Barry to be able to hear her voice since she was a horse, in fact it was a lot like how Grodd spoke.

Barry wanted to speak but instead he violently threw Celeres forward before the great horse.

"Please…" Celeres seemed to beg for mercy. "Please… Great Arion… have mercy…"

" _You are not worthy to utter my name."_ The earth and sky rumbled as she stood up. Green lightning flashed around her violently giving her a slightly pale green glow. " _You murdered my foal for personal gain. For that you shall learn why I am known as The Night-Mare."_

She towered over Barry and Celeres as she closed the distance between them with seemingly unparalleled speed. Barry watched as she stood over the centaur. There was only one emotion on her face; pure unbridled rage. In the next instant Barry saw Celeres' body go limp and collapse. That's when Barry saw the left half of Celeres' head and upper body were gone.

Barry's alternate centaur self from Earth - 476 was dead before he hit the ground.

"Barry!" Next thing Barry knew he was back in the bathroom with Catlin looking over him. She looked scared.

"Cait? What… what just happened?"

"You hit your head." She said. The doctor reached into the cabinet under the sink and pulled out a small first aid kit where she pulled out a small flashlight. "Hold still I need to check you for a potential concussion." Barry nodded and allowed Caitlin to finish her examination. "Good news Barry, there's no sign of a concussion. You mind telling me what is going on with you?"

The Flash sighed. "I had… well I guess I had a nightmare."

"Want to talk about it?"

"I'm sure it's nothing Cait." Barry took Caitlin's hand in his and gently pulled her down to the floor with him. "but I'll tell you about it."

Caitlin sat and listened to how Barry recounted his tale.

* * *

This is the end of the chapter

Please tell me what you liked, didn't like, look forward to/think will happen, or your general thoughts and comments, this will help me make the story better; I'm a big boy so I can take criticism. And if you Review you get a Shout Out and questions answered either privately or in the next chapter.

Please share this with everyone you can via whatever platform of social media you want. I would love it if the whole fandom got to enjoy this story and not just the one on fanfiction.

Have a Fantastic day


	19. The Poison Doctor

**Disclaimer:** The following is a nonprofit Fan based story; The FLASH and all related characters are owned by DC comics, the CW and anyone I may have missed.

Like I always seem to say to the point of redundancy (doesn't mean it's any less true) I love everyone who Reviews, Favorites and or Follows any of my stories. Again, if I didn't respond I apologize and just let me know.

Reviews: **josephguy217, CallMeMiles, Galpalcj, Guest(1), AReiss215, changingdestiny40, wilsonenmanual43,** and **Guest (2)**

 **Guest(1):** Glad you loved it

 **Guest(2):** I'm glad you like the 'Night-Mare' Name, it's not that original but I do think I'm the first to use it like this. Now Is Barry Losing Time? The short answer is yes. He's blacking out like Ben.

Favorites: **joharasbel**

Followers: **mgaudry joharasbel WarriorsSoul**

Also, please share this on any social media platform you see fit, get the word out if you love it so much AReiss215 gave me the idea to get it out there the only problem is I am not that involved with the social medias (no twitter, Insta, facebook, etc.) so it is totally cool for you guys to do that on my behalf if you want because I would love for the whole fandom to read this. Hell, I would love it if the stars, writers and Producers of the shows saw this!

Chapter 18 is finally here, I've really got nothing to say about this except I hope you enjoy it. I am trying to write shorter chapter so I can update faster but my brain keeps telling me to add more and more to them until they are longer than intended and yet they still feel too short to some degree.

* * *

 _The Flash: Survival of the Fastest_

Chapter 18: The Poison Doctor

* * *

 **Barry and Caitlin's Home**

Caitlin and Barry sat on the couch and just absorbed what Barry just said. He was seeing things, seemingly becoming something else. Back in the day Barry might have kept this a secret from Caitlin if not everyone, thankfully he was mature enough to talk to his fiancé.

"I think we should tell the others." Caitlin said.

Barry wasn't so sure, but he knew Caitlin was right. Keeping secrets never worked out for any of them. "We should, but… I don't want to worry anyone, especially Ben. If he knew something was happening to me… I… I don't know how he'd react."

"And how will he react if you don't tell him and you have another episode?"

"You are right, as usual." Barry smiled at Caitlin before giving her a small kiss on the lips. "Come on, it's getting late. We should head off to bed."

* * *

 **Iron Heights Prison**

Johnathan 'Jack' Potts sat in his cell quietly. Today was day ninety-three of his ten-year sentence. He and his sister had been arrested for theft and for second degree murder when he killed a guard in their botched getaway plan. They were hired to break into a high-end tech company to steal some weird device that supposedly would help their employer deal with The Flash.

John and his sister were among the best thieves in the business, not the most well-known. Experts in both infiltration, Observation and technology allowed The Potts Siblings to pull off some of the most impossible heights in the world, and yet for all their effort and accomplishments they never once got recognition. In the Larceny business, notoriety was never a good thing, it was best to remain unknown and never take credit for the things you steal, which is why they worked through contracts if someone were to go down it would be their employers and there would be nothing to link the two thieves to any stolen property.

About five years ago they worked a job with Leonard Snart to steal a valuable sapphire from the Gateway City Museum of Natural History. Snart called them the best thieves in the business while he might be the most famous.

"Potts!" A prison guard violently rapped his baton against the bars to get the thief's attention. "You got a package." As the guard slipped John a small parcel box no bigger than a one-by-two-inch container John looked over every inch of the guard. He had never seen this man before, which would lead him to believe he was a new hire, except the keycard hanging from his hip showed signs of excessive use indicating he has been a guard at Iron Heights for quite some time.

John stood up and reached out to take the package. "Haven't seen you here before, you must be new."

"Just take the damn package. Your uncle said it was special for you." The guard grumbled as he turned to leave.

John sat back on his cot and opened the package inside was a small pill filled with red liquid. His 'uncle' sent this to him? That was impossible for a few reasons chief of which was they had no uncles in close proximity.

Along with the small pill was a note with only one word on it:

EAT

John pondered for a moment and looked out of his cell and then back to the pill, he hadn't the slightest clue what it was but he took it.

* * *

 **The Next Day**

Barry walked out of the cell completely confused.

"Anything Barry?" Joe asked

"There's nothing, in fact, evidence points to John Potts simply walking out of here."

"How could an inmate get out of an electronically locked cell, go down two flights of stairs, pass a dozen cameras and twice as many guards before walking out the front door and stealing a police cruiser?"

"It wasn't just him. His sister, Jaquelin Potts, also went missing last night."

"So, two new thieves both vanish in the same night and no one saw anything? How?"

"I'm thinking one of them might be a Meta-Human. But I have no clue what either can do." Barry replied. "If they are Meta-Humans they havn't used their powers until now. Which contradicts every other Meta-Human we've come across in the last four years."

"We have to find them Barry, we have no clue what these two are capable of, especially if they were telling the truth about their skills." Joe said.

* * *

 **S.T.A.R. Labs, Cortex**

"What do we know about the two that escaped?" Cisco asked as he sat next to Caitlin.

"Nothing" Iris said. "I've been doing some digging ever since Dad and Barry told us they escaped and there is absolutely nothing. It's like they don't exist."

"You won't find much of anything about them anywhere." Ben spoke up. "John and his sister are two of the best thieves in the business because they have never been caught."

"Is it wrong to admire the fact they've never been caught?" Wally asked with a slight shrug.

"I think it sucks that with their talents they weren't being better people." Ben said. "I met them once back in my time, I've got to say I never witnessed their abilities if they even have them, but they went by their monikers, Sir Prize and Miss Fortune."

Cisco looked a little miffed about the nicknames. "Who the hell came up with those? I would never offer them as potential names, not even in a million years."

"No clue. I think they did." Ben shrugged.

"Who cares what they call themselves how do we find them?" Barry spoke up.

"No clue. In 2024, they'd been off the radar for years, and that is six years before I came back here." Ben said. "Look I know we should be looking for them but I honestly think we need to focus on Lightspeed and his minions."

Barry placed his hands on his hips and looked at the floor for a second before looking up to address the whole team. "There is not much we can do about The Potts siblings now, I think Ben is right. We need to focus on Lightspeed, and importantly where MH-52 is coming from. We stop the drug and we stop any new Meta-Humans from showing up and interrupting us."

"I was able to reverse engineer the liquid you brought us yesterday." Caitlin said. She flashed over to her lab and returned with the vial of crimson liquid. "I think I was able to perfectly replicate the MH-52 Formula, though I have no way of ethically testing the drug."

"Is there anything you can tell us about it?" Barry asked.

"A lot of the components are difficult enough to come by, but the key ingredient, in order to properly bond all the other elements together needs to be ionized and lucky for us that gives it a unique signature." Dr. Snow explained.

"I'll set the S.T.A.R. Labs satellite to search for that signature." Cisco immediately got to work.

"Widen the search Cisco, if we have a satellite might as well look everywhere." Ben said. "Besides once we locate the origin we can stop it easily."

"I've got a lock!"

"That was quick." Wally sounded surprised.

"The satellite is picking up the signature in Star City, I cannot get any closer than that."

"We'll look into it, nice job Cisco." Barry patted Cisco shoulder before turning to Caitlin and Ben. "Suit up."

Thunder boomed and yellow, white and blue lightning flashed as Flash, the new Godspeed and Caitlin raced off to Star City.

* * *

 **Star City, Dockyard**

Robin and Bobby crouched in the rafters of the drydock watching the deal going down. Below them was their target Dr. Mariana Maru in the middle of selling a new drug that was creating many problems across the United States; MH-52. A drug that could be consumed in any of the three phases of matter, popping pills, shooting up a liquid or drinking it, or inhaling a gas version. No matter the form of consumption one of two outcomes was possible. One, the drug awoke any latent Meta-Human abilities in a person with a dormant gene. Two, a regular human would develop powers for a set amount of time however the drug was highly addictive and too much of MH-52 could kill a normal person.

"Can you hear them?" Robin asked Bobby.

The younger man had been listening to the whole conversation, courtesy of his super hearing. He could hear a coin flip a dozen kilometers away and tell you which side it landed on, and that was a good day. If one were to compare his hearing and voice to say kryptonians/daxamites one would find Bobby to be superior in every way. When Bobby's powers first developed, well, let's just say it was not a good combination for a baby to develop a sonic scream or acute hearing.

"Yeah… they're waiting for their buyer, the guy called Puppet Master." Bobby said. "He's bringing their payment."

Robin nodded in agreement. The two of them had been stalking this operation for a while now and they learned that Maru was the Puppet Master's chemical expert, she was the one providing her boss with the chemicals to manufacture MH-52. "Any clue what that is?"

"Probably just cash, knowing these types of people." He then put his finger to his lips to indicate for his sister to become silent. They listened to the revving of an engine as a Lamborghini pulled up. The driver got out and opened the back door.

Bobby and Robin watched as The Puppet Master stepped out of the car dressed in a slick black three piece double breasted suit. His face however was covered by a plague doctor's mask with orange lenses and a steel beak emblazoned with intricate floral patterns.

" ** _Do you have my drug_**?" Puppet Master asked utilizing a voice modulator.

Maru gestured to one of her goons who walked forward and opened a steel brief case that had been handcuffed to him. Inside were two dozen vials each filled with the crimson liquid.

"This is quite the chemical I cooked up." Maru spoke with a heavy Caribbean accent. "Do you have what we asked for?"

Puppet Master waved his right hand and a stone box came out of his car and landed softly in his hand. " ** _Here it is_**."

Maru took the box from Puppet Maser holding it close like it would disappear if she let it go. "You don't know how long we have been searching for this. With it our master can finally return to us."

Robin turned to Bobby looking for some indication to jump in, he nodded. The duo leaped from the rafters, ready for a fight. Robin nocked three arrows and drew back her bow while bobby removed the scarf around his mouth.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" Bobby screamed loudly as he unleashed a sonic blast directly at the floor cracking the foundation and blasting Maru and the Puppet Master back.

At the same time Robin fired off her three arrows one pierced into Maru's shoulder before jetting out a metal wire that pinned her to the ground. The second arrow struck one of the henchmen in the chest killing him. Her third was split vertically in half before it could reach Puppet Master.

" ** _We've got company_**." Puppet Master said unenthusiastically as Bobby and Robin landed in front of them. " ** _Tell me, who are you two supposed to be? You couldn't possibly be the Green Arrow and his girlfriend_**."

"Name's Sonic Boom." Bobby said rubbing his throat a little. Using his powers excessively could strain his throat and even lead to him temporarily losing his voice, making it a little harder to use sound when you cannot speak. "Let's play."

Puppet Master flexed his right hand before waving it at Bobby, his razor-sharp wires sang as they sliced through the air.

"I suggest you put the box down." Robin said as she aimed another arrow at Maru.

The woman looked from the box to Robin and back to the box. "My Lord Savitar will save me!" She made a move to open the stone box but Robin released the arrow allowing it to pierce into the chemist's free hand. She recoiled in pain and dropped the box to the ground. Seeing her precious artifact like that made Maru scramble for it, she had to get it back.

"You do not understand the forces at work archer." Maru said as she stared down Robin. The female archer ignored her and let loose another arrow only for Maru to catch it, purple liquid oozed out of her hand and melted the arrow. "Very well, I shall show you how I received the moniker Dr. Poison."

Robin was about to put another arrow in Maru when wire wrapped around her arrow and yanked it out of her hands. In that moment Robin turned towards Puppet Master only to see Bobby wrap his powerful arms around the man's throat and throw him to the ground.

Bobby reached for Puppet Master's mast but wires wrapped around his wrist tightly and began to cut into Sonic Boom's skin drenching his right hand with blood. Bobby grabbed the wires and pulled Puppet master off the ground before slamming him into a nearby pillar making them loosen on his wrist. Bobby took a deep breath and unleashed his sonic scream primarily focused on Puppet Master who gripped his ears in pain.

More wires raced out from Puppet Master's outstretched left hand and wrapped violently around Bobby's throat. Not only were the wires asphyxiating him they also prevented him from screaming while they sliced into his neck.

Robin immediately moved to help her little brother by firing two three arrows into Puppet Master's back. Almost immediately his jacket caught fire, it was odd how he didn't seem to react to his back being burned.

"Shit!" Several of Dr. Poison's lackeys reached into their coat pockets and pulled out gas masks. "She's gonna use that!"

Ashen steam billowed off of Maru threatening to quickly fill in the whole building. In a matter of moments, the entire premises smelled of rotten eggs. Those that were unfortunate to not wear gas masks began to cough violently and collapse. Even Robin found herself at a loss for her breath.

"Hydrogen Sulfate." Maru said as she stood over Robin holding the stone box once again. "Colorless, poisonous, corrosive and flammable. At this concentration one breath is more than enough to kill a full-grown adult."

"…but not right away…" Robin smirked as she drew another arrow.

"What are you doing?" Maru questioned. Instead of nocking it Robin snapped the tip off and threw it like a dart at Maru.

Dr. Poison moved out of the way, as she did she noticed the arrowhead sparked and caught fire.

* * *

Meanwhile on the western edge of the city our three speedsters had finally arrived in the home of the Green Arrow.

"Alright Cisco we made it to Star City. Any indication where to find the drug depot?" Barry asked

There was a thunderous boom that caught the attention of the three speedsters as a column of black smoke and flames poured into the sky.

"That will have to wait." Caitlin said. "Right now, we've got people to save." In the blink of an eye the three speedsters arrived at the raging inferno. The heat was so intense Caitlin could feel her throat drying up.

"WE NEED TO CREATE A VACUUM AROUND THE FIRE! PREVENT IT FROM SPREADING ANY MORE!" Barry yelled over the raging inferno before running around the firestorm in a clockwise direction followed swiftly behind by Caitlin and Ben.

Within moments the colossal ball of fire diminished until all that was left were the burned-out ruins of the Wearhouse.

"I've got three bodies over here!" Ben shouted to Barry and Caitlin as they searched for any potential survivors. So far, they hadn't found any living bodies, only charred remains.

"This warehouse was supposed to be empty." Caitlin said.

"I contacted SCPD as well as SCFD." Barry added. They'll be on their way shortly."

"What do you think happened here?" Ben asked.

"Gas leak?" Caitlin suggested. "I can kind of smell the feint scent of rotten eggs."

"We might need Team Arrow's help on this." Ben said "Do they still act like they don't know us?"

"No clue, I've been trying to get in touch with Felicity and or Laurel but I'm sure they both blocked me." Caitlin said.

"Then I say let's round them up and head to the bunker. I'm sure Oliver won't mind.

* * *

 **Star City, Arrow Bunker**

"Ollie…" Laurel gently whispered to her-sort-of-not-really-husband. It had been months and still Oliver refused to believe Robin and Bobby about being a vigilante known as The Green Arrow. Did she believe them when they told her she was a vigilante known as Black Canary after a stint as a villain known as Black Siren, not really, but there was no real explanation for her abilities. Robin and Bobby were her only hope for some answers.

"Don't talk to me Laurel…" Oliver rolled over on the bed so he was facing the wall. "These people are nuts."

"Then how do you explain all your scars and tattoos?"

"I got into a lot of trouble as a child."

"Involving knives arrows and guns?" It was far more rhetorical than intended. "Face it Oliver, there is too much of both our lives that just don't add up."

"I refuse to believe what they say Laurel." Oliver turned back to Laurel. "I cannot believe it. If I do, that means everything between us, everything we know and have been through is a lie." He sat up and took Laurel's hand in his own looking down at their wedding bands before looking at the suits on the manikins. "I don't want it to be a lie. What they said I've been through, my Father's suicide, my mother's murder and even… 'your death' I don't want to live through any of that again."

Laurel looked as if she were about to cry. "Ollie… the truth might hurt… but It's better than living a lie… living a lie is like living a fake life… and I don't want my life to be fake…"

"Laurel…"

"And no matter what the truth turns out to be… I will still believe in us."

Oliver was about to speak once more when the elevator door opened and out came Bobby and Robin.

"Damn, that was close." Robin sighed. "Thank god you can do what you can do."

"Well, one of had to save our skin after you ignited a room filled with flammable gas." By this point Bobby had already covered his lower mouth with his scarf. Even in private places he was rather self-conscious about his Glasgow smile, it tended to scare a lot of people, even his own parents had been put off by it.

"Hey, I was improvising, not like you could have helped."

Bobby rolled his eyes before noticing Laurel and Oliver were watching them. "They're looking at us."

"Think they notice all the ash and soot? Or the blood?"

"What's going on?" Laurel asked. "Why do you smell like smoke?"

"Funny story Laurel, see we sort of were stopping a drug exchange and then we had to deal with a burning building." Robin said. She turned to Oliver and sighed when it became apparent he wanted nothing more to do with them. However, there was something different, almost like he was saying 'I'm willing to listen now.' or 'I believe you.' While not optimal, it certainly was a start. "Listen could I get a minute alone with Oliver please?" She asked. Laurel and Bobby nodded leaving Robin to sit beside Oliver.

"Look Oliver," Robin began to say. "I want to apologize for everything my brother and I have been putting you through the last few months. But I want you to know we are not the bad guys here."

"I don't care." Oliver said. "I just want you to leave Laurel and me alone. We are happy with our lives."

Robin took a deep breath. "What about William Oliver?"

William. That name triggered something in Oliver but he did not know what or why. It sounded so familiar yet completely foreign to him at the same time. "William? Who's that?"

Robin seemed to grow sad. "Your son Oliver. The son you have forgotten."

"A son? Are you saying I have a son? That can't be true."

"It is true Oliver, and I'm sorry to say but someone stole William from us, and in order to get him back we need to to return to your old life. We need the Green Arrow."

Oliver Queen sat on the bed processing what had just been told to him. He had a son that he had forgotten. How could he forget his own child? he didn't want to believe it but something inside him, something akin to instinct kept telling him she was telling the truth. He guessed it was a parent thing, no matter what a parent would always remember their child. Flashes of a young boy appeared in his mind. He looked up at Robin barely holding back the tears in his eyes. "What do you need me to do?" He sounded desperate and not quite like the Oliver of old just yet but he was getting there.

Robin smiled and was about to speak when she was interrupted when a massive rush of wind filled the Bunker. Standing in the main station were three individuals all wearing some form of leather suits and each of them had an extra person on each arm, three women and three men.

The larger African American man immediately doubled over the nearest trash can and vomited. "Sorry Dig, I keep forgetting how much you dislike my speed."

"What… the hell… was that?" The man named Dig asked. Oliver recognized him as Thea's bodyguard.

"What the!? What just happened?" The blond woman wearing glasses questioned. "How'd we get here? Where exactly is here?"

"Ollie!?" The young woman Oliver recognized as Thea asked "What are you doing here? I thought you were sick?" She then noticed Bobby and Robin along with everyone else. "Um… who are these people? What's going on here?"

"Who are you two?" The Female speedster in blue asked as she was clearly gesturing Robin and Bobby.

"We could ask the same question." Robin said as she eyes the three speedsters her eyes fixed on the one clad in a white suit. For a moment, she saw someone else's face but quickly realized it was not the person she thought it was.

"Oliver… we need to talk…" The speedster in red said. "Something has happened to you and your team and we need your help."

* * *

 **Central City, Puppet Master's Base of Operations**

David Caesar opened his eyes. It was a good thing he sent one of his personal, perhaps unwilling, marionettes to Star City to make the trade with Dr. Maru. If he had gone himself there wasn't a doubt in his mind he would have been killed in the explosion.

" ** _How did it go_**?" Caesar looked up to see Godspeed standing in front of him with his arms folded across his chest. "Did you acquire what you needed?"

"Unfortunately, we hit a snag in the form of some interlopers." Caesar said. "The package was delivered, though I do not believe Dr. Maru escaped the explosion. "Tell me, how did you acquire such a relic?"

" ** _It is quite simple to acquire rare and valuable items when all of time and space is at your fingertips_**." Godspeed looked out the window. " ** _It was quite easy to acquire the Philosopher's Stone, all I had to do was pull it from its resting place._** "

"You claim to be an acolyte of this Speed God Savitar, is he as powerful as you say?"

" ** _Perhaps at one time he was the most powerful speedster, but he was still just a man. A man who was easily imprisoned by the very thing that made him a God. He had his turn and it was squandered on a petty grudge. I used to look up to him, aspire to be him even, but he taught me there are no Gods… just men._** "

Caesar nodded. "On that note, our newest recruits are coming along nicely. I managed to get one of my men on the inside and he slipped MH-52 to John and Jaqueline Potts. Both were successful in their escape attempt from Iron Heights, though I assume the City is searching for them in full force."

" ** _Good. We will need their abilities at their maximum potential in order for our plan to work_**."

"Everything else is ready to be executed on your command."

" ** _It is almost time, but there is still something that must be done. Before we can bring down the Flash._** "

"Name it and consider it done."

Godspeed smirked beneath his mask. " ** _I already am_**."

* * *

 **Star City**

Elsewhere in Star City, Dr. Poison staggered as far from the blast site as she could. Horrific burns covered a good portion of her body. If she hadn't used her body's ability to rapidly produce chemical compounds she would have been burned alive instead of coating her entire body in a substance akin to fire suppressants.

She could not believe how insane that archer was to ignite a room filled with Hydrogen Sulfate, though on the plus side there was no way that woman and her accomplice survived the flaming crucible.

She clung the stone box tightly under her right arm, that was all that mattered. "Finally… we can bring back… our lord Savitar…" Maru's family had what most would call an obsession with the God Savitar. Her great grandmother told her he first appeared to them during World War I, saving her from the wrath of another Goddess.

Maru reached out to open the box when she heard a noise. A rumbling like distant thunder followed by the sound of roaring flames. An intense heat flared up behind her but just as instantly it was gone. The crackle of electricity and the rushing sound of air was enough to tell her it was a speedster

She whirled around and found herself face to face with a new face.

He was a tallish man and seemingly well build, though it was hard to tell underneath his clothes. He wore black cargo pants with a white union jack design running up the right leg, some sort of sneaker and a red hooded leather jacket with black accenting the underside of his arms and his sides. Wrapped around his right wrist was a long steel chain and on his right ring finger was a small silver band that gave off a faint blue-white glow. His hood was up and his face was covered by a thick black shadow, only his eyes were visible, illuminated by their glowing blue color.

"I've come for that." The man pointed at the stone box in Maru's hand. He didn't stop walking towards her. Maru held the box closer to her chest and held out her right hand threateningly.

"I don't know who you are but I will kill you." Maru said

The man shrugged. "As if you could." His voice sounded sad as he spoke almost as if he was filled with sorrow and regret in addition to his burning conviction.

Dr. Poison threw her hand towards him hurling hydrofluoric acid his way in hopes she would maim or kill him.

With speed uncommon for a normal human he avoided the acid effortlessly and readied the chain on his wrist. "I said, I've come for that!" The man threw his chain forward, as he did it was wreathed in blue lightning. The chain wrapped around The box and he effortlessly pulled it from Dr. Poison's hands.

"You have no idea about the forces to toy with!" She yelled at him. An instant later he was in front of her connecting a lightning clad fist into her jaw knocking her out cold.

"I think I do." The man proceeded to open the box and allow the illuminating light within to burst forth. "I'm one of the few people who can free him from his prison."

* * *

This is the end of the chapter

Please tell me what you liked, didn't like, look forward to/think will happen, or your general thoughts and comments, this will help me make the story better; I'm a big boy so I can take criticism. And if you Review you get a Shout Out and questions answered either privately or in the next chapter.

Please share this with everyone you can via whatever platform of social media you want. I would love it if the whole fandom got to enjoy this story and not just the one on fanfiction.

Have a Fantastic day


	20. Hope for Team Arrow

**Disclaimer:** The following is a nonprofit Fan based story; The FLASH and all related characters are owned by DC comics, the CW and anyone I may have missed.

Like I always seem to say to the point of redundancy (doesn't mean it's any less true) I love everyone who Reviews, Favorites and or Follows any of my stories. Again, if I didn't respond I apologize and just let me know.

Reviews: **CallMeMiles, Daniel6, Guest,** and **AReiss215**

Favorites: None?!

Followers: NONE!?

Kind of makes me said there weren't too many reviews, no new favorites or follows this time. Lets shoot for some more this time! HOORAY FOR MOTIVATION!

Also, please share this on any social media platform you see fit, get the word out if you love it so much AReiss215 gave me the idea to get it out there the only problem is I am not that involved with the social medias (no twitter, Insta, facebook, etc.) so it is totally cool for you guys to do that on my behalf if you want because I would love for the whole fandom to read this. Hell, I would love it if the stars, writers and Producers of the shows saw this!

* * *

 _The Flash: Survival of the Fastest_

Chapter 19: Hope for Team Arrow

* * *

 **March 15,** **2036**

 **Earth-Prime, Central City  
**

Esperanza De Santo stood atop the edge of a precipice looking down at the one-hundred foot drop beneath her feet. She had been cursed by her beautiful mind. Due to the Particle Accelerator incident in 2014 Esperanza had found she had developed abilities that allowed her to manipulate the memories of those around her, at first, she used it to her advantage as a ten-year-old child would. But soon it had become far too much for her to bare. She remembered everything perfectly even something like an obscure involuntary twitch made by someone in the background of her line of sight. Unfortunately, she bore no filter so she was essentially experiencing every memory of everyday of her life of a daily basis.

All she wanted to do was be an actress. It wasn't a greedy demand in fact she was quite good at acting even without her abilities.

" _ **So, is this how you intend to end it all? Allowing gravity to take a hold of you as you plummet to the earth like a falling star.**_ " Esperanza turned around to see a man in a white suit clad with golden lightning bolt designs.

"Who are you?"

" _ **Just a curious bystander, but you can call me**_ August." The man said as he removed his mask and stopped the vibrations of his voice. "I've heard about you, and your unique talents Ms. De Santo."

"I don't know what you are talking about. I am just an actress."

"A rising actress who's flawless in everything she does, including her own stunts, who just so happens to be tempting suicide at this moment because of her extraordinary memory. Don't be coy I know of your activities. You are a Meta-Human Ms. De Santo. And I can help you."

"What can you possibly do?"

"Your mind cannot keep up with the colossal amount of information that flows into it. In a way, it is similar to my own only mine is short term."

Esperanza was curious. "I'm sorry to break this to you but Meta-Humans cannot have more than one power."

"True, but only in most circumstances. I have seen your future Esperanza De Santo. You can and will be The Goddess of Memory. All you need to do is take my hand." August held out his hand. "With your gifts added to my speed, we can be unstoppable. This city, this entire world will bow to our feet."

Esperanza gave August a look that clearly said 'I don't believe you.'

"Don't believe me Ms. De Santo? Perhaps you might take a look into my memories." He took her hands into his own and lifted them to his head. Almost immediately golden-white lightning flashed everywhere as Esperanza experienced August's whole life not just witnessing it. She felt every emotion August felt, smelled the things he smelled, saw everything he saw and it was a ll glorious. She even saw what looked like flashes of herself along side him, visions of her future that were memories of his past. Despite all of it, it was still too much for Esperanza to bear and she released August but stumbled backwards and over the ledge.

August recovered quickly enough and raced to catch her before running her back up to the roof off the building. "So Esperanza, do we have an accord?" He asked holding out his hand once more.

Olvida hesitated for a moment before taking his hand. "I believe we do August." Instantly a wave of lightning washed over her. While initially white the lightning eventually changed to a shade of violet. Moments later her body went limp and she collapsed into August's arms. Moments later her eyes flickered open."

"Congratulations, you are now a speedster Ms. De Santo. Once you are ready I will teach you everything I know, Olvida."

"Olvida? That's not my name."

"It is now. For you will make our enemies forget everything."

* * *

 **Present Day: January 24 2018**

 **Star City, Arrow Bunker**

"Who are you guys?" Ben asked Robin and Bobby once he had a chance to be alone with them away from the prying ears of the rest of the heroes.

"No one of consequence." Robin spoke for herself and her little brother. "We are just a couple of associates of Mr. Queen."

"I guess I am correct in assuming you are the ones we've been hearing about fighting crime in Star City for the last few months?"

"That's us."

"I must say, I am quite familiar with The Green Arrows Team but I've never heard of either of you two, what are your names again?"

"I'm The Black Arrow and this is Sonic Boom." Robin said not revealing their real names. Ben reached out to shake their hands.

"I'm The Fla- I mean, I'm Godspeed." He said. Robin and Bobby hesitated for a moment before accepting the handshake, it was oddly firm, like each of them was trying to crush his hand.

"So that's it really." Barry finished explaining their situation to Oliver and the rest of the team. "You're all members of Team Arrow and you work together to protect Star City. But you're more than a team, you're all family. Each one of you is a hero." The Flash looked to Oliver. "The Green Arrow." Then he turned to Dinah. "The Black Canary." He swapped his gaze to Diggle, Rene and Curtis. "Spartan, Wild Dog, Mr. Terrific." Finally, he turned to Thea and Felicity. "Speedy and Overwatch."

"This is all Crazy." Diggle shook his head in disbelief. "I don't know what's going on but I need to get home to my wife and son."

"And I should arrest all of you right now." Dinah said instinctively reaching for a gun that was no longer there. "If you're all vigilantes I cannot allow you to run wild, plus you kidnapped us."

"I…" Barry started to say but Dinah cut him off.

"Don't try and argue, you took us from our homes against our will, that's kidnapping."

"Look, we're not asking any of you to believe us. But we are telling you the truth. Please, I have a plan that might restore your memories but I can only do it if I have your consent." Caitlin pleaded.

"And what is it you propose?" Curtis asked.

"Electroshock." Caitlin said. "Your memories are working properly but there is a block that is preventing you from accessing your actual memories."

"Doesn't Electroshock run the risk of you know frying their brains?" Barry asked.

"Which is precisely why I would only do it with their consent." Caitlin argued

"No one is getting their brains zapped." Robin said.

"Thank you!" Rene replied.

"Electroshock Therapy is like trying to unplugging someone connected to The Matrix. The only way to properly restore memories that have been altered is to wear them down with contradictions and emotions. Oliver might not remember William but he certainly still loves his son. Hell, all we really need to do is put everyone in situations where their emotions are stimulated to such a degree that their true memories burst forth."

Everyone turned to look at Robin, there was something odd about her but Ben could not seem to figure out what. She had all the tell tale marks of a time traveler and yet she gave off the semblance of someone born and bred in the present. And yet her knowledge of Team Arrow in addition to her tech was more advanced than today's technology could produce. In a way, Robin and Bobby's actions reminded Ben of Derick and Daphne when he met them months ago, hostile and apprehensive.

Whatever their reasoning Ben needed to earn their trust. "I have an Idea that might help restore all of your altered memories." Ben said. "We need Esperanza De Santo's help."

"Esperanza De Santo? Who's that?" Barry asked.

"She's a Meta-Human with the ability to manipulate memories. There's only one problem."

"What's that?" Caitlin asked

"It's 2018, which means she's" Ben looked like he was counting in his head and on his fingers for a moment. "She's ten years old."

"So the fate of Team Arrow and Star City lies in the hands of a Central City Elementary Student?" Barry asked.

"Pretty much." Ben replied

"OK, I'll go back to Central City to pick her up." Caitlin said. "Tell the rest of the team to bring her to CCPD."

* * *

 **The Next Day: January 25 2018**

 **Central City, S.T.A.R. Labs Cortex**

The remainder of Team Flash was gathered up in the cortex when an alert came through. Barry had just contacted them about searching for a little girl named Esperanza De Santo claiming she could help them return Team Arrow's proper memories to them.

"So, who wants to go to Central City Elementary and pick up a little girl?" Cisco asked "And who wants to deal with this new Meta-Human alert?"

"Eddie and I will handle the Meta-Human."

"And I'll go pick up this Esperanza." Iris said. "It'll be much less creepy."

"I'll go with you Iris." Joe interjected "Remember I'm still a cop."

"Ok, come on Eddie, let's suit up." In a flurry of yellow lightning and blue flames Kid Flash and Cobalt Blue were on their way to the source of the disturbance.

"Come on baby," Joe said as he led Iris out of the Cortex to his car leaving Cisco alone in the Cortex. Cisco kind of wished Harry, Jesse and Jay were still here so he'd have someone to talk to but he had to settle with opening the comms with Wally and Eddie.

"How're things going Kid Flash?" Cisco asked sipping his Slurpee

" _We might need some help here Vibe!"_ Wally voice said from the speaker. " _We've got a Meta-Human who can manipulate the ground!"_

Realization spread across Cisco's face. "That's who Barry fought before he ended up in his Coma! You cannot let her get away!"

" _Easier said than done!"_

"I'm on my way over there now!" As fast as he could Cisco gathered up his Vibe suit and opened a breach to where Eddie and Wally were facing off against.

* * *

 **Central City Elementary**

Little Esperanza De Santo skipped down the hallway towards the main office. She had just been called to the office by the very nice secretaries. This was about the time her mom pulled her out of school anyway so she could be on time for gymnastics practice, however when she arrived at the main office and opened the door she was not met by her mother.

"Who're you?" Esperanza asked. "Where's my mommy?"

"It's OK sweetie." The dark-skinned woman smiled as she crouched down to the little girl's level. "I'm here to bring you to her."

"Mommy and Daddy say I should never talk to strangers." Esperanza said cowering slightly behind her backpack.

"Alright Esperanza, my name is Iris." Iris greeted her by reaching out to take her hand. "See now we're no longer strangers."

"It's OK Esperanza." Ms. Heran, the secretary said. "I talked with your mother she said it was OK."

"Really?"

"Really, Really."

"OK…" The little girl said she reached out and took Iris' hand gently.

"Come on, let's go see your mom."

* * *

 **Wally, Eddie and Cisco's Location**

Kid Flash and Cobalt Blue ran literal circles around the feme fatal. She kept trying to hit them with stone fragments and stone constructs but they avoided every movement.

A breach opened and Vibe leaped out and fired a concussive blast at her. "Stay down Quarry Queen." Her new nickname rolled off his tongue since she uses her powers to mold stone she rips from the earth.

"Quarry Queen… I like the sound of Quarry Queen." She smirked before flicking her finger up

"HOLD STILL DAMN IT!" She screamed. She collected rocks around her right arm A spire of earth erupted at her feet and launched her into the air as she came down she punched the ground. The land shook as a wave of rubble raced out like ripples in water.

Wally and Eddie jumped at just the right moment to clear over the rubble wave while Cisco fired a concussive blast which shattered the wave and blasted Quarry Queen off her feet and into a wall.

"Cute abilities you all have." She said as she stood up and wiped blood from her lip. "But three against one is a little unfair don't you think?" The earth around her rumbled and out form it formed nine golems, three for each hero.

Eddie moved first running around all of the golems and produced his maximum level of flames. The ground at their feet heated up before becoming liquid and trapping the golems before they could make any move. Cisco blasted the immobile golems until they were all nothing but rubble while Wally ran around Quarry Queen creating a vacuum to suffocate Quarry Queen.

Moments later Quarry Queen was clutching her chest desperately trying to catch breath before she collapsed to the ground giving Wally ample time to rush her and slap on a pair of cuffs.

"And done!" Cisco practically cheered while Quarry Queen struggled against the cuffs. Her golems had since become completely immobile.

"That a new record?" Wally asked

"Sure is."

"I'll bring her into the precinct for questioning." Eddie, ever the cop, said.

* * *

 **Star City, Arrow Bunker**

Barry, Ben, Robin, Bobby and The rest of Team Arrow waited for Caitlin to return with Esperanza when an alert went off on one of the computers.

"What's that?" Kurtis asked as He and Fleicity crowded around Robin, who was sitting at the monitor.

"Break in at the Papp's Jewels on 11th and Weisinger." Robin said getting

"How do you know that?" Dinah asked skeptically folding her arms across her chest.

"Felicity has all these computers connected to almost every major alarms systems company in Star City." Robin said turning eyes to Felicity.

"Me!? I mean, I might dabble in computer but I am by no means a computer wiz." The blond tech savvy woman said. "I'm just Mayor Queen's secretary."

"This will all make much more sense once Caitlin comes back with Esperanza." Robin said standing up and walking to the stand holding her bow and quivers.

"We'll take care of it." Ben said as he shared a look with Barry. The two speedsters nodded simultaneously and in a flash of yellow lightning they were both back in their suits.

"Oh, Hell no." Robin spoke up. "If anything my brother and I will be protecting this city. Oliver left it to us in case anything happened to him and or his team."

Barry and Ben shared another look. "When did he say that?" Barry asked suspiciously

"Doesn't matter." Robin grumbled. "He said it and we agreed."

"I think despite everyone's memory trouble you and your brother are the only ones we cannot trust." Ben accused. "Barry and I know the whole Team." Ben paused for a moment when he looked at Laurel. "We know _most_ of the team." He corrected. "And in their six years of operations neither of you two has been mentioned! Not once!"

Robin was visibly getting ticked off. She grinned her teeth. "I CAN'T STAND YOU!" She suddenly shouted while pointing a finger at Ben. "I DON'T KNOW WHO THE HELL YOU ARE OR WHY THE FUCK YOU ARE HERE! YOUR FACE IS A DEAD RINGER FOR A FRIEND OF OURS WHO DIED YEARS AGO! HELL I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY YOU LOOK LIKE HIM BECAUSE YOU'RE NOTHING LIKE HIM!"

That one caught Ben off guard. Apparently Robin had a friend who looked like Ben but he was dead. Perhaps Robin and her brother were actually from an alternate Earth, it explained a lot. **  
**

" _ **ENOUGH!**_ " The sound of Bobby's voice filled the room and actually made it and it's occupants tremble. Everyone fell silent and turned to the man with a scarf around his mouth. "We're wasting time." Bobby spoke up drawing attention due to his raspy deep voice. "I'm going to stop this crime with or without you guys. If you wanna help that's great if not that's fine as well." Without another word Bobby walked towards the elevator and got in not even waiting for anyone to join him as the doors closed.

* * *

 **Central City, CCPD**

"Thank you for this Mrs. De Santo." Joe said.

"Of course, detective." Mrs. De Santo replied. "I'm not even going to try to pretend I understand exactly why S.T.A.R. Labs is interested in my daughter, I'd know if my baby girl were one of those Meta-Humans."

"I personally trust the doctor who's interested in your daughter. She's saved the lives of all my children. Your daughter will be in phenomenal hands." He heard the elevator open up and he turned his attention there to see Caitlin walk out and make her way towards him. "Here she is now. Mrs. De Santo I'd like you to meet Dr. Caitlin Snow."

"Dr. Snow, thank you for offering to check on my daughter." Mrs. De Santo reached out for Caitlin to take her hand which the young female speedster did.

"Of course. Ever since the Particle Accelerator Explosion STAR Labs has been dedicated to helping those affected and potentially affected by the unknown elements."

"What makes you think my daughter was affected."

"We're just covering our bases." Caitlin replied. "Honestly I believe your daughter is an exceptionally talented young lady."

"Thank you." Mrs. De Santo said.

"Mommy!" The three adults turned to see Iris and little Esperanza stepping out of the elevator. "You're here!"

"Of course, I'm here baby." Mrs. De Santo hugged her daughter. "Listen honey, Doctor Snow would like to check you over at S.T.A.R. Labs."

"Doctor? Why would I need to see a doctor mommy? I'm not sick."

"No, you are not. But Doctor Snow thinks you might be even more special than you already are."

Esperanza tilted her head in confusion as she looked form her mother to Caitlin. "You think I'm special?"

Caitlin shrugged a little. "We believe so. In fact, we think you might be as special as The Flash."

Esperanza's eyes lit up like a Christmas tree. Most girls her age were interested in being Disney princesses or having tea parties but not Esperanza. At recess, she would join the boys in playing superheroes often calling out she was Lady Flash. She adored the Scarlet speedster and every other member of the Flash Family, specifically the Female speedster she liked to call Lady Flash. "OH WOW!" She clapped her hands together excitedly.

"Calm down Esperanza." Her mother said.

"Sorry mommy." Esperanza gave her mother some doe eyes and gingerly folded her hands behind her back.

"How long will this take?" Mrs. De Santo asked Caitlin.

"If all goes well, it shouldn't take too long."

"She will be home by supper time." Iris added.

"Maybe I should go with her." Mrs. De Santo said. "I feel like I would be a horrible parent if I didn't."

"Mrs. De Santo, I know you have your concerns but there is nothing for you to be worried about." Joe stepped in. "I promise you, your daughter is in excellent hands."

"That's good to hear Detective." Mrs. De Santo adjusted her purse strap and clutched her bag a little tighter. She was clearly still uneasy about leaving her daughter in the hands of some strangers even if one of them was a well-respected cop.

The room was suddenly filled with the crackling of lightning and thunder roared. Papers whipped through the air and everyone ducked for cover as a thunderstorm seemingly erupted in the precinct. Little Esperanza ducked behind Caitlin and Iris while everyone scrambled.

When the wind, lightning and thunder died down a woman stood in the middle of the precinct with every officer's gun trained on her. She wore a skin tight black and purple suit with a large X spanning across her chest in the shape of twin intersecting lightning bolts.

For Caitlin, this woman was triggering a sense of Déjà vu. Like she had met her before but she couldn't remember for the life of her.

" ** _Heard you were looking for me_**." The woman said with the signature vibrating tone all speedsters took. " _ **Here I am**_." She held out her arms as violet lightning coursed around her. Then, in a crackle of violet lightning she was inches away from the little girl hiding behind Iris and Caitlin. " _ **Wanna go for a Run**_?" She smiled wickedly before grabbing the little girl and disappearing with a roar of thunder.

Immediately Caitlin raced after her moving so fast no one would even notice she left. They had just promised that Esperanza would be completely fine yet here she was being abducted by a mysterious yet somehow vaguely familiar speedster. Either way, Caitlin was going to get her back.

* * *

This is the end of the chapter

Please tell me what you liked, didn't like, look forward to/think will happen, or your general thoughts and comments, this will help me make the story better; I'm a big boy so I can take criticism. And if you Review you get a Shout Out and questions answered either privately or in the next chapter.

Please share this with everyone you can via whatever platform of social media you want. I would love it if the whole fandom got to enjoy this story and not just the one on fanfiction.

Have a Fantastic day


	21. Race Down Memory Lane

**Disclaimer:** The following is a nonprofit Fan based story; The FLASH and all related characters are owned by DC comics, the CW and anyone I may have missed.

Like I always seem to say to the point of redundancy (doesn't mean it's any less true) I love everyone who Reviews, Favorites and or Follows any of my stories. Again, if I didn't respond I apologize and just let me know.

Reviews: **Galpalcj, CallMeMiles, changingdestiny40** and **AReiss215**

Favorites: **PretorianKing, hell suriver203, Yankeegirl244** and **truk 201**

Followers: **hell suriver203** and **Yankeegirl244**

I don't know where the hell August went and with it all my missed opportunities to get this chapter done and out. I honestly have no way to gauge my schedule in terms of writing so unfortunately I don't know when the next chapter will be coming out. I also know once Season 4 rolls around I might, key word is might, have more motivation to write more frequently. Either way I believe I've finished with most of the set up stuff so starting next chapter we'll be diving into the juicy stuff dealing with the Ben, Godspeed, Barry, Speed Demon and the Mystery Speedster

Also, please share this on any social media platform you see fit, get the word out if you love it so much AReiss215 gave me the idea to get it out there the only problem is I am not that involved with the social medias (no twitter, Insta, facebook, etc.) so it is totally cool for you guys to do that on my behalf if you want because I would love for the whole fandom to read this. Hell, I would love it if the stars, writers and Producers of the shows saw this!

* * *

 _The Flash: Survival of the Fastest_

Chapter 20: Race Down Memory Lane

* * *

 **CCPD**

The instant the female speedster was gone with Esperanza and Caitlin, Mrs. De Santo began to wail for her little girl. Everyone in The Precinct was in a frenzy trying to figure out what happened and where Dr. Snow and Esperanza disappeared to.

Thankfully Caitlin had moved so fast no one figured she was the other Flash running around the city. Iris and Joe were busy trying to calm down the older woman.

"My baby… where's my baby girl?" Mrs. De Santo demanded.

"Mrs. De Santo, I promise we'll do everything we can to find your daughter." Joe said

"I should have never agreed to this." Mrs. De Santo buried her face into her hands. "Now my baby is gone…"

* * *

 **The Grand Canyon**

Caitlin ran hard as she chased after the female speedster, moments after leaving CCPD she had changed into her suit and was hot on the other woman's trail. In mere minutes, the duo had run from Missouri all the way to Arizona. Every step Caitlin took felt hard on her body causing her slight pain not to mention she was still feeling slightly ill from the flue she contracted. In typical speedster fashion, thunder roared as the two speedsters stopped hear the edge of the Grand Canyon with the black and purple speedster dangling the little girl over the ravine.

" _ **DON'T**_!" Caitlin pleaded.

Esperanza was quite surprised to see her hero, Lady Flash, trying to save her. "Lady Flash?"

" _ **Stay calm Esperanza, I'm going to save you."**_

" _ **Don't make promises you can't keep Lady Flash."**_ The Other speedster said. Caitlin watched as the other woman's grip loosened and released the little girl.

"NO!" Caitlin screamed in horror as she watched a little girl fall to her death.

Seconds later Caitlin sighed with relief as Ben in his Godspeed suit slid to a stop next to her holding Esperanza tightly in his arms.

"I've got you." Ben reassured the little girl. He turned to Caitlin before handing her off to his mother. "Take her to Star City I deal with this one." He said gesturing to the other female speedster.

" _ **OK I've got her**_." Caitlin responded as she clutched the little girl.

"Go!" In a heartbeat Caitlin and Esperanza were gone and Ben quickly intercepted the other speedster. "Oh no you don't!"

The other speedster pouted. "Oh, come on Benny, surly you won't hurt little old me."

Hearing his name shocked Ben. Whoever this woman was she knew who he was, and that frightened him.

"You know who I am?"

The female speedster chuckled. "Shame you don't remember me Benny, especially after all of our special time together. We made quite a team." She reached up and removed her cowl revealing what looked to be a much older version of the little girl he just saved. "Sure I had a bit of a name change but that shouldn't change much."

"What? You!? How?"

"I go by Olvida nowadays." Olvida smiled "Long story, don't want to bore you with the details. Actually…Let's have a race." She had said to him. "One thousand laps around the Grand Canyon. You win I'll tell you everything you want to know."

"And if you win?"

Olvida smirked. "That's for me to know and you to find out. Though I don't think you want to find out."

Thunder roared as the two speedsters began to run around the magnificent canyon. They ran neck and neck at Mach 100 just keeping pace with the other. Ben knew if he were to pull ahead it would give this woman the opportunity to draft off him, which would result in his loss in the end and she surely knew the same thing.

Ben had shown his parents he could easily reach speeds of Mach 30,000 but he didn't reveal to them that the faster he went the harder it was for him to process the world around him. Everything would eventually turn into a blur with ben unable to differentiate objects within his limited field of view, its why he would wear goggles specially designed to help him see.

Slowly they pushed harder and crept up their speeds reaching Mach 200, 500, 1000. To the outside world only 1.3 seconds passed as Olvida slid to a stop across the line she had made in the sand. She turned and looked at Ben with a smile. One lap down 999 to go.

* * *

 **Star City, Papp's Jewels**

Robin and Bobby arrived at the Jewelry store just as the perpetrators were exiting the building, it was none other than the Royal Flush Gang, except they had the Heart motif instead of the usual Spade suit.

There were five of them coming out of the building each with a duffle bag more likely than not filled with valuables. There seemed to be no firearms on their person which was a good sign.

"Damn it! Who're these guys?" The Man with the King of Hearts mask asked.

"Sonic Boom" Bobby said as he pulled down his scarf unveiling his horrific mouth.

"And I'm The Black Arrow." Robin said as she knocked an arrow in her bow. She quickly drew back and fired five arrows, each one split open unveiling nets.

King and Jack tossed their bags to the ones with a Queen mark and a Ten mark. They each pulled out a deck of cards and some kind of handle. In two fluid motions their flourished their decks and slicked through the nets. King's deck now resembled a scimitar while Jack's resembled a broad axe.

"The Card Weapons are new." Bobby said under his breath so only Robin could hear him. "I could have sworn these thugs were supposed to be just that."

Robin nocked another arrow and drew it back. "Doesn't matter anyway." She fired only for the Royal Flush gang to avoid it as it embedded itself into the wall behind them.

"Ha! You missed!" Queen smirked

"Missed?" Robin questioned. "I never miss." The air was filled with a low humming that grew louder and louder before the arrow detonated unleashing a concussive force that knocked all five members of the Royal Flush Gang off of their feet. c

"That was too easy." She made a move to clasp some cuffs on them but the man with the Ace mark grabbed her wrist.

Sonic Boom closed the distance and grabbed Ace. "RAAAAAAAHHHH!" Bobby screamed uncontrollably into his head. There was something off about Ace, as normal as he looked Bobby could hear the faint pulsing of electricity, the turning of gears and the rush of running of some liquid within him. The pressure of Bobby's scream was so immense it caused Ace's head to cave into his chest. Oil and metal shot out in all directions.

"Damn!" King growled

"ACE!" The one marked 10 cried out. Her voice was distinctly female, possibly early twenties. She Brandished two decks of cards and spread them like fans before flinging them at Sonic Boom like throwing stars.

Bobby replied by moving Ace's robotic body into the path of the projectiles catching them all.

"Neat tech." Bobby said as he released the android to crumple to the ground. "A little too advanced wouldn't you say?" He asked turning to Robin.

The Black Arrow rolled her eyes. "As advanced as my arrows are I made them all myself from scratch." She dodged a swing of King's card sword grabbed his shoulder and kneed him in the crotch. She had been trained to fight by Oliver Queen until she was eighteen after that she decided to throw honor out the window into the river with concrete feet. She drew another arrow and shot it into the down man's back which sent an electrical current through his body.

Bobby shook his head as he stopped Queen's right arm as she tried to stab him with a card knife. Twirling around like a snake he was airborne wrapping his legs around Queen's head in a Headscissors move. Using his superior weight and momentum, he brought the both of them to the ground and yanked on her right arm popping it clean out of its socket. Queen yelled in pain but was silenced by a swift kick to her temple from Bobby.

"How could you do that to her?" Robin asked as Sonic Boom got back to his feet. "She's a woman!"

Bobby looked back at the unconscious woman before turning to his companion. "There's just no pleasing you is there?" Sonic Boom dodged a swing of Jack's card axe before slamming his forearm into his jaw bringing him to the ground. Bobby then proceeded to elbow drop into Jack's chest breaking a few of his ribs. Bobby then grabbed Jack's legs and twisted them into a knot. He stepped over and twisted Jack until he was on his stomach Bobby kept applying the pressure to make Jack scream. When he was satisfied Bobby released his opponent.

"I mean seriously… you get mad when I don't act chivalrous towards ladies but you also get mad when I fight women like I fight men."

Robin rolled her eyes and nocked another arrow and without aiming fired at a fleeing 10. Wires shot out and wrapped around her like a web making her fall to the ground clumsily.

"You're an ass."

"That's why you love me." Bobby teased

"Just because I am obligated to 'love' you, doesn't mean I have to."

* * *

 **Arrow Bunker**

Barry and the rest of Team Arrow Waited for Caitlin, Ben, Robin and Bobby to return to the Bunker. Barry had decided that in preparation for Caitlin's arrival with a civilian girl it would be best for everyone to suit up even if they weren't particularly fond of the idea. When Caitlin made the call that she needed some help Barry was about to jump to help her but Ben stepped in and went to help her instead. Not long after Ben had run off after Caitlin, Caitlin returned to the Bunker with the little girl she had been sent to retrieve.

"Cait!" Barry was immediately by her side and embracing his fiancé.

"I'm fine Flash." She said not giving away Barry's identity.

"Uh… who are you people?" Esperanza asked not recognizing anyone in the room.

Barry crouched down to her level. "You see Esperanza The Green Arrow and his team need your help."

"Really?" She turned from the Flash to the confused faces of Heroes she had only heard about. "What can I do?"

"You see, we believe you developed abilities during the Particle Accelerator Explosion five years ago." Caitlin spoke up. Barry gave her a look.

"Five years? That long?"

"It exploded in December of 2013." Caitlin gave the Flash a knowing look. How could he have forgotten the day he was hit by that lightning bolt? "Kind of hard to forget that's when it happened."

"Right sorry." Barry rubbed the back of his cowled head. "Anyway, someone has altered Team Arrow's memories Esperanza. We need you to set them right."

"How can I do that? I can only remember things perfectly. I've never seen other people's memories." The little girl said.

"You can do it." Caitlin put a hand on the little girl's shoulder reassuringly. "We believe in you."

"…OK…" she took Lady Flash's hand so the female speedster could lead her to Team Arrow.

"Who wants a little girl rummaging through their mind first?" Barry asked.

* * *

 **Arizona, The Grand Canyon**

About twenty-one minutes after their race had started Olvida and Ben both came to a screeching halt across their hand made finish line, with Olvida being just a nose a head of Ben.

"Looks like I win Godspeed." She said his codename in a mocking tone. "Funny how your name has a double meaning and yet neither helped you out in this race. You're definitely not a speed god nor do you seem to have any good luck.

"How…?" Ben was out of breath, something which was unusual for him. He was lucky their speed hadn't locked together. If it had Ben would be powerless right now. "I'm the fastest speedster…"

Olvida smirked. "Actually, that title belongs to someone dear to me. Someone you know well."

"Who?" Ben demanded.

"I'll never tell." Olvida wagged her finger.

"But then again…" She rushed forward and grabbed a hold of Ben's head allowing her violet lightning to burst out in all directions. "I think it's time you meet him."

Ben screamed in agony as Olvida's lightning overwhelmed him. Images flashed in his mind, he couldn't make sense of any of it until he saw one that stuck with him. Barry and Caitlin's dead bodies with two people standing over them that Ben knew all too well. How could he forget the man and woman who killed his mother and father?

* * *

 **Central City, S.T.A.R. Labs**

"Anything?" Iris asked as she entered into the cortex. Cisco turned still sucking on a lollipop.

"Caitlin contacted us, she got Esperanza and took her to Star City. Apparently things are a little more complicated that we thought." Wally spoke up before Cisco could answer.

"How so?"

"There's a new crime fighting duo in Star City, they call themselves The Black Arrow and Sonic Boom." Cisco jumped in. "They're more on the maim side of the vigilante code."

"Honestly everyone they've 'caught' is more likely to end up in a hospital or a morgue rather than prison, if the rumors are to be believed."

"Hey, Oliver started out by killing people." Iris argued. "If these two want to do some good there is no one better to teach them than Oliver."

Wally raised his hands up in defeat. He knew not to argue with his sister. "I am not getting into a morality debate about these new heroes. I'm going out on Patrol. Is Eddie out?"

Iris nodded. "Yeah, he's finishing up his patrol of Keystone City any minute now."

"You seem oddly chipper Iris. What's up?" Cisco asked curiously.

Iris smiled and looked between Wally and Cisco. "Look don't tell anyone yet, but Eddie and I…" Wally's eyes widened with a thought. "We're going to have a baby."

"OH MY GOD!" Both Cisco and Wally rushed her and embraced Iris. "CONGRATULATIONS."

"Uncle Wally is going to be there for you buddy." Wally said into his sister's stomach.

"Yeah, same with Cisco." Vibe added. "I'll be the one to get all of his or her awesome toys."

"Maybe I should have been more specific." Iris mumbled under her breath drawing Cisco and Wally's attention. "I'm not pregnant." She said.

"wait then how are you and Eddie having a baby?" Cisco asked. Wally also seemed to have an equally confused look.

"Have neither of you two heard of adoption?" Iris asked sarcastically prompting two nearly identical 'Oh' faces.

"Does Dad know?" Wally asked

"No he doesn't. Not yet." Iris replied. "Eddie and I are just starting to look into it. There's an awful lot of work to be done, but hopefully in the end Eddie and I will be able to start out little family."

* * *

 **Star City, Oliver's Penthouse**

While Bobby and Robin watched over Team Arrow while Esperanza attempted to work her magic in reworking their memories Barry and Caitlin stepped out to get a moment to themselves.

"It sounds like its going smoothly with restoring their memories." Caitlin said to lighten the mood.

"Still nothing from Ben?" Barry asked.

"I'm just as worried as you Barry, but Ben knows how to handle himself." True to her words Caitlin was worried for their son, he had been gone far too long by speedster standards.

"Yeah… our son really is something isn't he?" Barry answered as he leaned against the railing of the balcony

Caitlin smiled as she joined him. "It sounds like we will do a good job with him. Kind of removes any doubts either of us might have about being terrible parents."

"What?" Barry turned to her confused and completely misinterpreting her words. "You're concerned about being a bad parent? Why would you be thinking that? Wait a minute… Cait are you…?"

Caitlin turned to Barry in shock. "Am I preg – No, no, no, no Barry. I'm not pregnant." She laughed taking Barry's hands in her own and watched as Barry's gaze rose from the ring on her finger to her eyes. "We've been careful Barry… and I… I don't think having a baby right now is the best course of action…at least… I think it would be best for us to wait until we're married first…and when this ordeal with Oliver's team and Lightspeed's army of speedsters is over. And after we help Ben stop Speed Demon and get him home." The pair shared a brief moment of silence just smiling at the other. "And besides, don't you think you'd be the first to know if I was pregnant Mr. Allen?" She added.

"I'd be the second to know actually." Barry said "I can't exactly take a pregnancy test, can I?"

"No, you and I would find out together." Caitlin corrected before leaning in to kiss Barry.

Their kiss was meant to be nothing more than a quick peck but soon became heated with passion. Without thinking Caitlin was already removing Barry's sweater while He was attempting to remove her jacket as they made their way to the bedroom.

"Wait… Barry…" Caitlin finally broke the kiss. "We have to stop…"

"Why?" Barry asked.

"Just… not here…I mean… its not appropriate to do it in someone else's home."

"You're right… as usual."

The door clicked and opened allowing Ben to enter the Penthouse. "There you guys are." He said.

"Ben!" Caitlin immediately grabbed her jacket and put it back on quickly fixing her outfit. "You had us worried. What happened?"

"She…" Ben rubbed the back of his head and looked at the floor. "She got away…"

"How?"

"She was too fast. And she did this thing with her lightning." Ben tried to explain. "She tried to blind me and by the time my sight returned she was gone. I'm sorry…I screwed up…"

"It's alright Ben." Barry said placing a hand on Ben's shoulder. "We'll find her and deal with her."

Caitlin offered Ben a smile and opened her arms offering her son a hug. "Come here, you look like you could use a hug."

A smile crept over Ben's face. "I'll always accept a hug." Ben said as he embraced his mother.

That's when Caitlin felt it. a tiny jolt between her and Ben. Not enough to cause her any pain but enough to be noticeable. She pulled back startled.

"What is it?" Ben asked because he hadn't noticed the jolt.

Caitlin was about to say something when Barry grunted. He was holding his head with his right hand and seemed to be wincing in pain.

"Barry…?" Caitlin asked

"Wait… something…" Barry clutched his head. "Something is wrong…get… back…" Crimson lightning built up around Barry before exploding outward.

"BARRY!" Caitlin yelled as she reached out for him but his red lightning arced to her and burned her hand. She yanked her hand away and rubbed it, though she was more concerned for Barry. Ben wrapped his arms around his mother.

"Are you alright?"

"His lightning… it… it burned me…" Caitlin looked down at her slightly burned hand.

* * *

 _Barry found himself standing in the familiar swirling storm that was the Speed Force. "What's going on?" He asked himself hoping the Speed Force would respond. In that moment the world got darker, as if blanketed by a shadow._

"… _Barry…" The Flash turned to the sound of his name which was also the direction the shadow was coming from. There Barry noticed something on the 'ground' a body. Barry made his way over to it thinking it was the Speed Force but then he noticed the form it took, Caitlin._

' _Caitlin's body was crumpled on the ground pale and lifeless with a river of blood leaving her body. Unable to control himself Barry was cradling 'Caitlin' pleading for her to wake up while also trying to reaffirm that this could not be real. The Speed Force in Caitlin's form weakly opened her eyes and caressed Barry's face with a bloody hand._

" _He is coming Barry… there is no longer anything we can do to stop him." She gestured to her freely flowing blood. "He will bathe in the blood of your lover…"_

' _Caitlin's' blood began to flow a little faster and move as if it had a life of its own. Barry followed it with his eyes and saw another stream of blood, this one coming from a corpse resembling him. The Bloody Barry then opened his eyes and began to speak like a possessed corpse. "He will bathe in your blood…"_

 _This Barry wasn't alone there was a third body, one that bore an uncanny resemblance to Ben. "He won't stop until he bathes in the blood of your children…"_

 _The blood from all three of them flowed as if it were alive forming a circle of crimson liquid. It began to boil and rise. Once it reached a specific height the blood fell away unveiling a figure clad in armor so black it seemed to swallow all the light around them. He reached down into the pool of blood and retracted his hand. Barry watched as he opened his fingers revealing a small golden ring illuminated ever so slightly by a glowing red lightning bolt. The figure promptly placed on his right index finger._

 _The blue storm around Barry began to change until it resembled Central City and he saw all of his friends around the black armored figure. Black lightning arced all over his body. The small gaps between the black armor began to glow a fiery red his body seemed to be vibrate with such intensity the air began to heat up before a large explosion of fire and black lightning exploded outward._

 _Barry was thrown from his feet as the wave of fire and lightning incinerating everyone and everything until nothing but ash remained. The Flash pushed himself up from the ground and looked at the desolation before him._

 _The figure was illuminated by the fire-red markings on his armor in addition to the red flames billowing off of him. This not only made the figure's black armor appear the same red as the Flash's own suit it allowed Barry to see this person's identity as none other than Speed Demon._

 _He only looked slightly different from when Barry initially saw him. His lightning horns seemed longer and the skull mask was a lot subtler than before, not only that but he was much taller, standing maybe a head and a half taller than Barry. He held black lightning in his ringed right hand as if it were solid. That's when Barry realized the black lightning not only was solid but Speed Demon was using it as chains restraining someone Barry recognized; his Mother._

" _MOM!" Barry's mind was on the fritz. Part of him knew this was not real. The Speed Force took the form of his loved ones in order to counsel him when he needed its help._

 _Each step Speed Demon took towards him seemed to echo as loud as thunder until he was on top of Barry towering over him and casting a dark shadow over the petrified speedster. He reached out and grabbed Barry with his left hand which burned Barry to the touch and lifted him a solid foot off the ground until they were staring eye to eye._

" _YOU MUST STOP HIM BARRY!" The Speed Force version of his mother pleaded. "ONLY YOU CAN STOP HIS ASCENT!" The air around Speed Demon ignited with such intense heat everything, including Barry, burned to nothing._

* * *

Barry gasped and sat upright taking in as much air as his lungs could.

"BARRY!" Caitlin latched her arms around his neck and held him tight.

"Are you alright Barry?" Ben asked "You had us worried."

Barry was still shell-shocked trying to gauge his surroundings. He seemed to be laying on a bed in what must have been Oliver's penthouse. "Cait…? Ben…? What happened?" That's when Barry noticed Caitlin's bandaged hand. "You're hurt Cait."

"It's fine Barry. Just a slight burn." She caressed Barry's hand with her injured one.

Ben and Caitlin shared a look before Ben spoke. "Something happened when I hugged mom. We're not sure what it was but it threw you for a loop. Knocked you out for exactly twelve hours."

"Twelve hours?" Barry rubbed his head. "It felt like only minutes. What about Oliver and the rest of his team?"

Both Ben and Caitlin smiled. "We're not sure how but Esperanza, with a little guidance from everyone was able to restore everyone's memories."

Barry let out a sigh of relief. "So they are up to speed."

"Yeah, they managed to finally relay that message we wanted to send to the Legends about getting their help dealing with Lightspeed, his army and Speed Demon."

"That's great," Barry turned to Ben. "Ben, when I was unconscious I had some sort of vision."

"What do you mean?" Caitlin asked

"I think my mind was pulled into the Speed Force, it… it was trying to warn me."

"Warn you about what?" Ben asked

"Speed Demon. He's up to something, something big, and the Speed Force says only I can stop his ascent."

* * *

 **Central City, 2044**

A figure laid on his bed looking up at the small blueish stone he held in his hand. He had gone through quite the ordeal to retrieve the stone and eliminate its former master. He was close how. So close to achieving his goal. He only needed one more thing to carry out his plan. He closed his eyes and thought of those who were no longer with him and smiled.

He stood up and made his way out of the bedroom sparing one last glance to the photos framed on the nightstand. " _We've got to take care of Godspeed's Right Hand._ " A voice he knew all too well said.

"I know." The man replied. "We'll take care of her and at the same time reveal Godspeed to the Flash.

" _Remember, The more we travel back in time the more likely it is that we will erase our world."_ The man didn't even bother turning around towards the source of the voice.

"Yeah, yeah, I know the risks. It's not like we're changing the past. We're stopping those who are trying to.

" _And what of Godspeed?"_ The voice inquired. " _Will you be able to end him if necessary?"_

The man stopped in his tracks as he pondered what the voice said. "You've known me for what? Two years? When have I ever not done the right thing?" Behind him, the figure who was always there, yet only he could see, smirked a little with his maimed face before vanishing as if made of lightning.

* * *

This is the end of the chapter

Please tell me what you liked, didn't like, look forward to/think will happen, or your general thoughts and comments, this will help me make the story better; I'm a big boy so I can take criticism. And if you Review you get a Shout Out and questions answered either privately or in the next chapter.

Please share this with everyone you can via whatever platform of social media you want. I would love it if the whole fandom got to enjoy this story and not just the one on fanfiction.

Have a Fantastic day


	22. In Memory of Olvida

**Disclaimer:** The following is a nonprofit Fan based story; The FLASH and all related characters are owned by DC comics, the CW and anyone I may have missed.

Like I always seem to say to the point of redundancy (doesn't mean it's any less true) I love everyone who Reviews, Favorites and or Follows any of my stories. Again, if I didn't respond I apologize and just let me know.

Reviews: **CallMeMiles, Guest, josephguy217, AReiss215, wilsonenmanual43,** and **changingdestiny40**

Favorites: No new ones? That's fine I guess.

Followers: **kwonyulie19 Chaoshriek** and **J. G. Pliskin586**

So I'm starting a new Job next week and while that's great for me it means I might not have that much time to write. At least until I figure out how to not be exhausted enough to write and still get enough sleep at night. Because of this I feel like I rushed to get this chapter done so if it seems unfinished or if there are any mistakes could you please let me know where so I can attempt to correct it.

Much appreciated.

* * *

 _The Flash: Survival of the Fastest  
_

Chapter 21: In Memory of Olvida

* * *

 **January 26 2018**

 **Star City, Oliver's Penthouse**

Caitlin stared at her reflection in the mirror while she clutched the marble vanity as tightly as she could. Her stomach was doing somersaults like an Olympic gymnast. The bug she had caught from Cisco wasn't going away and what was worse, her declining health seemed to be impacting her speed. Unbeknownst to everyone Caitlin had run a test on herself three days ago and found that her average speed had dropped roughly thirteen percent. She could run at Mach 340 back in December but now She could only hit Mach 294.

"What's happening to me?" She asked her reflection as if expecting an answer. Several Theories were running through her mind, all of them she was able to prove false save for one; Barry was stealing her speed.

Her Hypothesis didn't seem too farfetched the more she thought of it. Barry had been different ever since he woke up last month, coinciding with her deteriorating health and speed. And considering her connection to the Speed Force was forged when Barry's Future Counterpart accidentally wounded her three years ago it made sense that the Speed Force was trying to reunite in its original conduit; Barry.

"Caitlin? Are you in there?" Barry asked as he gently knocked on the bathroom door.

"Just a second!" Caitlin called back as she quickly cleaned up any stray vomit and applied a light coat of makeup to mask her slightly pale skin. Within moments she was opening the door.

"Are you OK Cait?" Barry voice sounded very concerned for his fiancé.

"I'm Fine Barry." Caitlin passed it off with a smile. "Just had some trouble finding my… toothbrush." She said after a brief pause.

"Your toothbrush…" Barry reiterated seemingly unconvinced. "You sure it had nothing to do with the sounds of you flushing the toilet half a dozen times?" Caitlin flinched ever so slightly and unfortunately for her Barry noticed. He gently took her hands in his own. "Cait… if something's bothering you please don't shut me out." His gaze fell to the ring on her finger. "No matter what, this" He gestured to the ring. "This is a sign we are in this together for the long haul."

Caitlin looked up from her ring into Barry's eyes and instantly she felt like she was caving in. She had the urge to just confess everything that was going on with her, surely Barry would understand.

"…Barry…" She felt a lump in her throat and she choked slightly trying to find the correct words. "I… I'm sick…"

Immediately Barry cupped her face completely concerned. "Are you sure? What are your symptoms? How long have you been sick?" Barry was asking about a hundred different versions of those three questions and each one brought a slight smile to Caitlin because of his endearing nature.

"Barry… I'm honestly fine… it's just a small stomach bug… or the flu…" She added under her breath but Barry didn't seem convinced, he had a different thought on his mind.

"Are you absolutely sure?" He asked thinking back to the conversation they had yesterday. "You don't think-" Caitlin followed his gaze to Ben who was speeding around the kitchen preparing a breakfast.

Caitlin sighed. "Barry… For the umpteenth time, I am not pregnant." She paused for a moment. "I'm sure." She didn't sound so sure anymore as if something she hadn't thought about just floated into her head.

"Cait…?" Barry asked worriedly.

"I…I might be late…" It took Barry a moment to realize what she was implying. "With everything that's been happening… I just forgot…"

"Oh… Okay…Look, maybe we should just take a pregnancy test." Barry offered and before Caitlin could argue he continued. "Just to clear the air. What's the worst that could happen?" Caitlin let her eyes wander to the floor. If she was pregnant the timing couldn't be any worse, and if she wasn't it would break her heart just watching the jubilation leave Barry's eyes.

"Okay Barry…"

* * *

 **Central City, CCPD**

Esperanza slowly opened her eyes and found herself on a nice soft cot. Vaguely she remembered the events of the previous day about how she used her powers to restore the memories of The Green Arrow and his friends. It had exhausted her, though the funny thing was she couldn't remember any of their faces or names.

"Hey baby girl…" A familiar voice greeted her.

"Mommy?" Gently stroking her face was her mother, somehow, she was back home in Central City.

"Just rest baby." Mrs. De Santo gently said. "I was worried sick, and you had a very trying day yesterday."

"What happened Mommy?" The Little girl asked. "I don't remember anything."

"Shhh… just rest." The little girl nodded and closed her eyes. Mrs. De Santo turned to Detective West who approached her with a steaming cup of coffee. "Thank you, Detective, for bringing my daughter back."

"I can't take all the credit." Joe said. "But I'm glad you got your daughter back."

* * *

 **Star City, Arrow Bunker**

"Alright, Esperanza has been returned to her mother." Ben announced as he entered the bunker.

"Nice job." Felicity said before noticing two individuals were missing. "Where are Barry and Caitlin?"

"They said they needed to run a quick errand." Ben answered. "They'll be back shortly."

"Tell them to meet us in Central City." Oliver said as he approached Ben and Felicity.

"Central City? You mean?" Oliver's ex-fiancé asked.

"Yeah, we're going to Central City to help them with this Lightspeed character."

"Is it smart for us to go?" Felicity asked. "I mean, we'd be leaving Star City unprotected."

"Curtis, Dinah and Rene are staying behind to protect the City. You, me, Thea, and Diggle are going with Ben to Central City."

"What about Laurel?" Ben asked looking for the Black Canary's doppelganger from Earth-2.

Oliver paused for a moment and thought about last night.

* * *

 _ **Last Night**_

 _Just after his memories had been restored Oliver immediately began to look for Black Siren. He found her near the back of the bunker wearing her slick leather suit._

 _"Laurel…" Black Siren turned around to the man with the face of the man she loved. She looked sad to Oliver. "What are you doing?"_

 _"I'm leaving." She said. "I don't belong here Ollie. I'm no hero like you or your friends."_

 _"Laurel…"_

 _"I'm not your Laurel Ollie… and you're not my Oliver. Stop trying to make me someone I'm not!" She spat at him._

 _"Don't you still remember any of it? Anything from the past few months?" Oliver asked_

 _"None of that was real Oliver." Black Siren fired back. "I don't know who was behind it but when I find them I'll kill them slowly."_

 _"I won't stop you from leaving Laurel, but I'm not going to give up on you." Oliver said. "Nor on us."  
_

 _"I know." Black Siren she was about to leave but Oliver took her free hand. "Ollie, please let me go before I change my mind."  
_

 _"Stay Laurel, we need you here. You can't just throw away everything you worked for over the last year."_

 _"Olie, let me go. I need some time." With a heavy sigh Oliver let go of Laurel's hand and returned to the main area of the bunker where the little girl wiped sweat from her brow after letting go of Felicity's head. Oliver took his place next to Robin and Bobby._

 _"How's she doing?" He asked concerned for the little girl._

 _"Fine for now." Robin answered. "Felicity and Diggle have had their memories restored and will probably wake up within the hour. Esperanza has never altered this many memories on such a scale before."_

 _"What do you mean?" Oliver asked._

 _"Whoever altered your memories in the first place was extremely thorough. In order to make the illusions more real every person tied to a specific memory had to have their memories altered to fit accordingly. Esperanza has to make sure she fixes every memory otherwise they could suffer a mental breakdown due to the inconsistencies." Bobby explained._

 _"Didn't you two try to do that to me?" Oliver asked critically._

 _"Yeah, but we knew you could handle it." Robin argued._

 _Oliver shook his head. Robin and Bobby were not going to go anywhere anytime soon. "Let her take a break for now." Oliver's tone left no room for argument. He wasn't going to let a little girl work herself to death._

* * *

 **Present Day**

"She needs some time to herself." Oliver replied. "Having her memories restored… it was harder for her."

Felicity was never a fan that Oliver had allowed Black Siren to join the team. She was a dangerous person and a threat to them all. She wanted to talk to Oliver about this but she bit her tongue.

"I understand." Ben said. "If I found my memories had been manipulated I'd probably freak out as well. So, how do you propose we all get to Central City?"

"Let us figure that one out." Oliver said. The emerald Archer knew if given the chance and opportunity The Speedster would carry each of them the six hundred miles. "We'll meet you back in Central City."

"Oliver, can I have a quick side bar with you?" Felicity asked.

"Sure Felicity." Oliver was conflicted about his feelings for Felicity. On one hand he still loved her, but on the other, his altered memories (despite not being real) made him remember his feelings for Laurel putting Oliver in the awkward position of not quite knowing who he was truly in love with.

Oliver and Felicity made their way to a more secluded part of the bunker.

"You seem distracted Oliver." The blond woman said. "And please don't lie and say you aren't. I know you're thinking about Black Siren."

"She needs help Felicity. The last few months where we were unburdened from our pasts… it made me realize, more than before, she still has some of our Laurel inside her. I know I can bring it out. Especially with all the good she is trying to accomplish."

"Oliver, you've been trying to force her to take up Laurel's Legacy ever since we learned of her existence last year." Felicity argued. Oliver wanted to say something, anything really, but he couldn't bring himself to talk. Felicity sighed and made her way back to the rest of the group.

A short while later Oliver, Felicity, Diggle, and Thea were all ready to head out with Ben to Central City when Bobby and Robin came forward packed and ready to go."

"Uh, what are you two doing?" Thea asked cocking an eyebrow

"We're coming with you." Robin answered not sparing any glances as she readjusted the bow on her back. "Don't try to talk us out of it." Those last few words seemed to be directed at Ben as much as they were aimed at Oliver.

While the Green Arrow had his reservations about the two newcomers they had been instrumental in protecting his city while they were dealing with the memory fiasco. "Alright." The Emerald archer said which seemed to bring a smile to Robin and maybe Bobby, it was hard to tell with a large scarf wrapped around his mouth.

"You can't be serious Oliver." Diggle said. "We know virtually nothing about them. I don't think this is a good idea."

"I agree with you John." Oliver said quietly so no one could hear him. "And because of that I'd rather have them right next to me than someplace I cannot see them."

Unbeknownst to everyone else in the room Bobby could hear every word being said. He didn't voice an argument because Oliver was right. They didn't know who either of them were, perhaps they should tell the truth. But doing that was against the pact they had made. Bobby would have to bring it up with their friends in Central City once they got there.

Before they could leave the doors to the bunker opened and out walked Laurel of Earth-2 clad in her Black Siren suit. "I'm coming with you guys." She said to which Oliver, Robin and Bobby all smiled.

* * *

 **Central City, S.T.A.R. Labs Cortex**

"OK Ben's on his way back with Team Arrow." Cisco announced to Wally and Joe.

"Awesome, when will they get here?" Kid Flash asked

"Not sure, but Ben said Barry and Caitlin already are on their way back here." Cisco replied

"So where are they?" Joe asked.

Almost on cue Cisco and Joe's phones pinged. Cisco had just received a text from Caitlin while Joe received a similar one from Barry. "OK, so Caitlin says something came up she and Barry have to take care of." Cisco said summing up the long text Caitlin had sent him.

"That's pretty much what Barry messaged me." Joe concurred.

"Hey, where's Iris? And Eddie?" Wally asked

Joe cocked an eyebrow at his son. "You don't know?" Wally looked to Cisco who just shrugged. "She and Eddie are meeting with a young mother through the Adoption Agency."

"That's today?" Wally asked. "Damn those two are moving quickly."

"They had the appointment set before they told me I was going to be a grandpa." Joe shook his head lightly. "Made me almost choke on my coffee."

"I'm so proud of them." Cisco said smiling. "In a way they're taking after you Joe. You did take Barry in." Joe just nodded. "And we might not have to worry about the Reverse-Flash ever again."

"Why?" Wally looked a little confused. He had heard about the man known as The Reverse-Flash but he had never met the guy. Everyone around him made this man in yellow sound like a monster on par with Zoom and Savitar.

"Eddie is the Reverse-Flash's ancestor." Cisco explained. "As long as he doesn't have any kids the Reverse-Flash will never exist."

"Kind of like _Back to the Future_." Joe summed up which cleared up Wally's understanding.

"So do we know anything about the baby they'll be adopting?"

"Well, this is their first meeting so its highly unlikely they will even be approved. And its not like they're adopting from an orphanage, they're adopting a newborn. A lot can happen in the nine months, even the parents refusing to release custody. Ultimately it is the birth mother's call." Joe explained.

"I hope it all works out for them." Wally said. "I cannot wait to be an uncle."

* * *

 **Secluded Part of Keystone City**

Olvida sat on the edge of a building scheduled for destruction mulling over her success. She had managed to alter Ben's memories, or rather, unalter them as Godspeed requested. It was just about time for them to take everything away from The Flash; His City, his family, even his legacy.

She was snapped out of her thoughts when there was an intense wind and heat behind her. "Esperanza 'Olvida' De Santo." Olvida turned around to see a man she never thought she'd see again.

"You!? That's not possible! You died!" She argued. "I watched Godspeed leave you as a bloody smear on the streets of Central City! I saw him display your corpse for all those would-be heroes to see."

"I've been getting that a lot lately." The man said. "Look, I'm going to cut to the chase here. You're going to leave this time period right now before you cause any irreversible damage. Actually, I want you to never return to this time, that's better than simply leaving."

Olvida ground her teeth in frustration. Who was this dead man walking to order her around? "I've got no reason to listen to you."

"True, you are free to make your own choices, but before you do I've just got one question; What do you think happened to all your friends who were causing a ruckus in this Earth's Timeline?"

Olvida thought to how every speedster Godspeed had created or recruited had been stripped of their power and mercilessly murdered. That's when realization flashed over her face and she turned to the man standing before her fully afraid. "You… you're the one who killed them all…"

The man's silence spoke volumes. Olvida rushed him and pinned him into a nearby wall. "XLR8, The Tempest Twins, Celeres, not to mention the countless other speedsters you killed in 2044." Olvida placed a hand on his chest and began to vibrate his body violently in order to liquify him from the inside out. "You know, I hear rumors throughout the multiverse about you. Rumors spread like wildfire about a speedster no one could defeat. They say Death itself either ran from him or it just cannot catch him, that's why they were calling him the Graverunner."

"I actually like the sound of The Graverunner." The man chuckled despite the supposed immense pain and discomfort that comes with your insides turning to mush. "It's so much better than the Demon of Central City." His overall demeanor implied he was unaffected by Olvida's actions.

Olvida spat in his face before she punched him cutting open his cheek. "You're no better than us, in fact you're the worst of the worst." Olvida argued. "There's nothing that gives a serial killer like you the right to decide who lives and who dies! You're not a god!"

"You're right, I'm no god." The man said as his eyes began to glow a fiery red. "I'm the devil."

Terror washed over Olvida as she put the pieces together. Slowly the man before her stood up with his body vibrating at such great speed he was igniting both his flesh and the air around him. It was never Speed Force energy people say billowed off of the black Speedster, he was burning the air through pure friction. As The flames quickly ate away leaving nothing but a skull, black lighting coursed around him forming a suit of black armor around his burning body.

Olvida unconsciously stepped backward as Speed Demon stood up to a towering height casting a shadow over her. Even though she had seen him transform and knew he was human Olvida could not help but feel Speed Demon was made of pure terror and malice. Her feet felt like lead as he approached her with a black hand outstretched. She wanted to run but found she couldn't as she was frozen in fear. Speed Demon's mighty hand wrapped around Olvida's neck and suddenly the female speedster felt weightless as she was lifted off of the ground.

Olvida then felt a shock unlike anything she had felt before. If there was one event to compare it to it was when Godspeed gifted her with speed. Gravity suddenly took a hold of her and she found Speed Demon release his grip.

Immediately she was on her feet running away from the monster. She let the Speed Force flow through her make her run faster and faster with each step, but something was wrong her body was heating up. Smoke began to flow off of her clothes and skin as she kept running away from Speed Demon. Her mind was realizing something was wrong, but her body was in an extraordinarily heightened state of flight or fight and she was flying.

She couldn't stop running, not even when the friction from running ignited the air around her as well as her clothes and flesh. The scent of burning skin filled her nose, she knew it was her own but she couldn't stop she kept running. Olvida was screaming in pain as her body was engulfed in flame her altered perception of time made the torturous ordeal last forever and an instant at the same time. She burned like dried kindling until she was nothing but a charred skeleton which quickly was blown away when Speed Demon came to a sudden stop in front of her remains.

His black lightning and flames died down until he returned to his human form. He held out a hand and caught some of Olvida's ashes and closed his eyes.

" _We did not kill her."_ The voice said to him in a reassuring tone.

"We basically did, by removing her Aura there was nothing to protect her from the intense friction." The Man replied.

" _She got what she deserved. She used her powers to alter how people remembered their personal timelines. Changing relationships and experiences. She was far too loyal to Godspeed for us to convince her to abandon her crusade."_

The man took a deep breath. "We still need to stop Godspeed before he does the one thing that could rupture our timeline."

* * *

 **Godspeed's Lair**

Godspeed sat on the edge of his bed when he felt it. Olvida's death that is. He stood up and made his way over to his prisoner. Before he could say anything to her or condemn her for her 'false prophesies' There was a brilliant flash of yellow light behind him, signaling the arrival of his remaining lieutenant Lightspeed.

"My lord… Olvida… she is dead."

" _ **I know**_." Godspeed replied. " _ **She had it coming the moment she created a tiny paradox.**_ " He pulled his cowl back over his face to conceal it form Lucien. " _ **We must be cautious to avoid creating Paradoxes of our own, they inform Speed Demon of our location**_."

Lucien nodded in approval he had never liked Olvida but she was one of Godspeed's most loyal followers. "Perhaps her sacrifice will allow us to obtain our goal."

" _ **My goal perhaps.**_ " Godspeed turned to face Lucien. " _ **Yours is much more difficult. You seek to restore your world after all**_."

"It is my penance to return my world to its glory after I purged all heretics from it. They are resilient to The Word"

" _ **Which is why I built this for you, come.**_ " Godspeed gestured for Lucien to follow him. He led the luminescent speedster to a large object covered by a white shroud.

"What… what is this?"

Godspeed smirked beneath his mask and pulled away the cloth showing the contents to Lucien. " _ **Consider it a gift for your years of faithful service. And may it let you spread your light to all worlds**_."

Lucien turned to Godspeed and dropped to one knee in gratitude. "My Lord… I will serve you even when I am no longer a part of this world. With this I shall wipe your enemies from the annals of history."

* * *

 **Central City, Barry and Caitlin's Apartment**

Barry and Caitlin sat in anticipation on the couch. Barry's feet were unconsciously bouncing at incredible speeds and every attempt to stop it only made them come back worse. Caitlin meanwhile was going over every possible was she could have taken the test wrong she was dreading the results.

"Remember Caitlin, no matter what the test says we're in this together." Barry said as he gently kissed her crown.

"I know Barry… I'm just… nervous…and worried…"

"Everything is going to be OK Cait." As Barry spoke the alarm on Caitlin's phone went off and the two speedsters rushed to the vanity to see what the future held in store for them.

* * *

This is the end of the chapter

Please tell me what you liked, didn't like, look forward to/think will happen, or your general thoughts and comments, this will help me make the story better; I'm a big boy so I can take criticism. And if you Review you get a Shout Out and questions answered either privately or in the next chapter.

Please share this with everyone you can via whatever platform of social media you want. I would love it if the whole fandom got to enjoy this story and not just the one on fanfiction.

Have a Fantastic day


	23. The Wrath of Lightspeed

**Disclaimer:** The following is a nonprofit Fan based story; The FLASH and all related characters are owned by DC comics, the CW and anyone I may have missed.

Like I always seem to say to the point of redundancy (doesn't mean it's any less true) I love everyone who Reviews, Favorites and or Follows any of my stories. Again, if I didn't respond I apologize and just let me know.

Reviews: **Galpalcj, CallMeMiles, Guest, changingdestiny40, wilsonenmanual43, Eliley,** and **AReiss215**

Favorites: **Starscape91**

Followers: **Eliley**

Just an FYI I did some editing for the previous chapter regarding Black Siren. Check it out if you get confused.

So remember how I said I was starting a new Job about two weeks ago? Yeah that's how long it took for me to realize I hated it and quit. Now I'm going to be going back to my old job since I preferred it and they haven't exactly found a replacement for me yet. I could sit here and rant to all of you but that's not why you're here. You all are here to read chapter 22 so don't mind me.

* * *

 _The Flash: Survival of the Fastest_

Chapter 22: The Wrath of Lightspeed

* * *

 **The Next Day: January 27 2018**

 **S.T.A.R. Labs Corridor**

Barry and Caitlin walked down the hallway towards the cortex. They had received notice that Team Arrow had finally arrived so everyone was now gathered in the Cortex. They could hear the chatter from the cortex and Caitlin paused for a moment.

"Barry… I don't think I can do this." Caitlin said suddenly afraid.

Barry gave his fiancé a soft smile before gently taking her hand in his and stroking the back of her hand. "Cait… there's nothing to be worried about." He kissed her hand. "This is a happy occasion."

Caitlin nodded slightly. "Sorry… my hormones are all over the place right now." She also placed a hand on her stomach. "And I've been unable to keep anything down. I think I might be delirious from hunger. Maybe we should just collect about a hundred IVs and go home so I can get my proper amount of nutrients intravenously."

Barry placed his hands on her shoulders. "Cait… take a deep breath…breath in…" He motioned for her to mimic him which she did taking in a large breath of air. "And slowly exhale…"

Caitlin closed her eyes and let out the breath she was holding. "Ok… ok…"

Slipping her hand back into Barry's was the easy part. Telling the rest of the team? That was going to be a little tougher.

"Hey guys Cait and I…have…some…" Barry's sentence faded out as his jaw opened. Every screen in S.T.A.R. Labs was showing static. Cisco, Wally, Joe, Eddie, Iris, Ben, Oliver, Diggle, Thea, Felicity, Laurel, Robin and Bobby were all watching intently as the static quickly filtered into the picture of someone Barry knew; Lightspeed.

" _People of Central City,"_ There seemed to be an echo to his voice, yet it was still powerful enough to make him sound like he was in the room with them. " _I am Lucien, a humble servant of the one true god."_

All around Central City people were glued to their television screens watching this man's announcement.

" _Many of you know of The Flash, your personal guardian angel. They say he saves people in the blink of an eye and that he only cares for the City. Well, I am here to free you of this heretic's lies! The Flash is no angel. Countless times he has placed his own wellbeing and selfish desires ahead of this great city's people. Have any of you wondered what this world would be like without The Flash? Without him, your city would be at peace. No other Meta-Humans would come to challenge him because S.T.A.R. Labs' Particle Accelerator would have never been built! There would be no Meta-Humans!"_ He paused for a moment as if he knew his words would get people talking. " _People of Central City, I offer you this chance to abandon the pretender, and I will take you to a world of perfection. I once offered the people of my world this chance of peace and they now live happily in our oasis. I can only give you all one hour. Those who wish to stay shall suffer the wrath of the one true god. To the pretender, I issue this challenge; a battle for the soul of this City. If you're truly the hero you pretend to be face me in in front of St. Carmine's Cathedral."_ The camera cut to black and all televisions, phones and any other screen used to view online media returned to their former setting as if nothing happened.

Team Arrow and the rest of Team Flash turned to Barry looking to him for some kind of answer.

"What do we do?" Iris asked as she took Eddie's hands in her own.

"There's no way people are dumb enough to believe this guy." Wally said.

"No, they believe him." Bobby answered. "All over the city I can hear people gossiping and packing their things to go to this 'Better' world with Lightspeed."

"How can-" Cisco was cut off by Robin.

"Bobby has really good hearing."

"Right…" Joe barely could contain his disbelief.

Not one to beat around the bush Oliver took charge. "So, what do we do?"

"I fight him." Barry spoke suddenly and allowed the room to erupt into arguments from Team Flash.

"Last time you fought him he kicked you through several buildings and landed you in a coma!" Iris argued

"I don't know, but this time… this time I know I can beat him."

"You are not fighting him alone!" Caitlin practically commanded a little louder than she would have liked. Her little outburst drew the attention of everyone in the room. "I almost lost you before Barry. I won't be able to lose you for real. Not now."

"I have an Idea!" Ben said suddenly.

"Well, what is it?" Barry asked

"Listen closely, because this will take all of us."

* * *

 **One Hour Later**

 **ST. Carmine's Cathedral**

Lightspeed stood atop the steeple of the house of god overlooking the city. This had been a long time coming. Ever since he was cursed he longed for the day of his salvation. Once Lucien had looked to the God of Speed Savitar for salvation but he was an absentee god, a charlatan, Godspeed has time and time again proven to be the one true God of Speed trapped in an unending war with the Devil himself.

Over the last hour people from around central city, mostly the elderly, had come accepting his offer to travel to his reality, to a true paradise. It brought a smile to Lucien's face to know how easy the Flash lat these people down, how easy it was for them to lose their faith in him. Truly these people deserved the happy ending Lucien had promised them.

"People of Central City!" Everyone gathered looked up to Lucien. "You have accepted my offer! Today you shall join me in paradise!" He raced down from the roof and pulled out a small metallic object. He threw it into the Church's entryway and a blue breach ripped open. "Come" He extended his hand for the first person to take.

The elderly woman hesitated for a moment but took his hand and he led her through the portal, to Paradise.

* * *

 **Earth-777**

 **Twenty Years Ago**

Earth-777 a world where all the monotheistic religions of the world melded together to create one religion and the world was at peace. In many regards, it was similar to Earth-Prime. But everything changed on the day Earth-777's Harrison Wells engaged his version of the Particle Accelerator and the world was decimated.

Lucien was just a simple altar boy on his earth when it happened. The wave of unknown energies and dark matter washed over Lucien at the same moment a bolt of lightning tore the main stain glass window and struck him through the heart. Lucien screamed in pain as every cell began to vibrate at accelerated speeds until the luminescent proteins in Lucien's cells emanated a light so bright the sun seemed dim.

The following day Lucien was left to wander the wasteland left behind by the explosion. His body was more radiant than the sun and burned five times hotter than the surface of the sun. He moved so fast he circled the entire globe in 0.13 seconds but he left nothing but destruction in his wake. He could not stop. In a second he circled the globe ten times. In a minute Six hundred times.

Lucien was no longer human, he was beyond even meta-humans, he was a force of nature, a god. His speed was so immense that he actually drew the attention of The God of Speed Savitar. The gigantic iron clad speedster appeared before Lucien and demanded a challenge of the budding Meta-Human. What Lucien did not know was Savitar planned to pull him into the Speed Force in order to free himself from his prison. Luckily for Lucien he moved so fast that not even the self-proclaimed God of Speed could keep pace with him. Within mere moments Savitar was pulled back into the Speed Force without his prize. Their race decimated the earth leaving humanity as nothing more than frightful creatures desperate for an explanation.

Lucien continued to race around the world nonstop for what felt like decades but in actuality it was merely a single hour. He finally was able to stop when a Speedster clad in white caught him and forced him to finally stop. The Speedster introduced himself as Godspeed, the Heir to Savitar's mantle. Though initially hesitant to trust the newer speedster Godspeed quickly proved his intentions by acquiring a suit for Lucien. Godspeed explained that the suit was designed much in the same way Savitar's was, it contained his powers, allowing for better control as well as shielding himself and the world around him from his volatile power.

With his new suit and better control thanks to Godspeed's teachings Lucien united as many people as he could create a new people living in what was left of Central City. Up until this point in Earth-777's history there had never been anyone like Lucien. People fell to his feet in worship (whether by fear or true devotion Lucien would never know) as if he were some heavenly person and while he didn't see himself as one initially Lucien quickly fell into the role of their savior.

Over the next twenty years Lucien led his people to prosperity. They renounced the sciences of Man that had led to the destruction of the world and instead embraced the Light of God. It was during this time Lucien discovered that his cells were nearly weightless and therefore allowed him greater speeds than anyone else in addition to defying gravity. with the help of several of his new religious scientists Lucien had the process reverse engineered in order to create a weightless metal which was then used to rebuild Central City. When the time came Lucien activated a great machine that he built under the city the people were in pure awe as Central City was ripped from the earth and raised six thousand meters into the sky making it a city in the clouds.

Central Heaven, as it was renamed became a literal paradise. During the Catastrophe (as it was now called) Dormant volcanoes such as Mt. St. Helen's began to go off. Volcanic Ash floated into the sky and mingled with clouds seemingly indefinitely. The People of Central Heaven found they could uses these clouds as fields for crops. The fields had properties similar, if not superior to, volcanic soil. The air was thinner, but also fresher allowing the people increase their red blood cell count and acclimatize to their new home. In time people began to call Lucien by another name. They called him Cassiel, which means The Speed of God.

* * *

 **Present Day**

 **Earth-Prime**

Within minutes the hundreds of people who gathered had been transported to Earth-777 as Lightspeed admired his work. So many lives have been spared the retribution he was about to bring down on them.

"LIGHTSPEED!" The angelic warrior turned around to see the Flash standing not too far from him. "Looking for me?"

Lightspeed seemed to smirk. The Flash was foolish enough to face him once more in battle. "I've been looking forward to this blasphemer." Lightspeed's hands began to glow violently. "It'll be glorious to crush you beneath my boot."

"Well, today is your lucky day." The Flash seemed to smile and fold his arms across his chest.

"Why is that?" Lightspeed was confused by the Flash's statement.

There was a flash of yellow lightning and suddenly there were two Flashes standing side by side in identical suits.

"Because there are two of us!" The other Flash chuckled at Lightspeed's disbelief

"Two Flashes?" He was so discombobulated he could no longer form coherent sentences.

"Make that Three!" There was another crack of thunder and flash of yellow lightning and another Flash appeared making it a trio of Flashes.

"Four!"

"Five!"

Two more Flashes joined the group in their own crackling yellow lightning.

Lightspeed was in disbelief as he stood alone against five identical Flashes. How could this be? There are only two ways for a speedster to truly be in two places at once, The Flash should only be capable of one of those feats, and there is no way he would be foolish enough to utilize Time Remnants unless he wanted to draw on the wrath of the Speed Force.

"I demanded you fight me alone!"

"Actually, you said 'I issue this challenge; a battle for the soul of this City. If you're truly the hero you pretend to be face me in in front of St. Carmine's Cathedral.'" One of the Flashes said. "So here we are, Five Flashes vs One Lightspeed. Now what are you going to do?"

Lightspeed looked down the line of the five identical speedsters and clenched his fists. "I'll just kill you all!"

Lucien charged forward at the speed of light giving the five Flashes barely any time to evade him. He whirled around and made a beeline towards the nearest scarlet speedster striking him in the chest. Lightspeed then quickly moved to the next Flash and landed a solid kick into his stomach before blitzing a third Flash with a spinning kick to the skull. Lucien blocked a kick from the fifth Flash before slamming an elbow into his chest and catching the Fourth Flash's fist in his free hand and flipping him to the ground. Despite the odds being against him in a five against one match up Lightspeed was holding his own remarkably well.

* * *

 **S.T.A.R. Labs Cortex**

Caitlin, Iris and Felicity hovered around the main computers watching the fight unfold with baited breath. So far things were not looking too good for The Five Flashes, but this was only part one of their plan.

Ben had suggested they use the Transmogrifier from Earth 19 to make Wally, Ben, Eddie and Jay all look exactly like Barry does in his signature suit. Ben called it Operation Five of a Kind. With Five 'clones' of Barry running around Lightspeed would have a difficult time figuring out which one is the real Flash. The way Lightspeed is he is obsessed with killing the Flash, he sees it as a mission from his god. He cannot risk killing the wrong person because he fears the possibility of eternal damnation.

Lightspeed had boldly declared he would kill them all and that worried both Iris and Caitlin. They were both hoping and Ben was right that Lightspeed would be bluffing.

The rest of their heavy hitters were waiting in reserve, dropped off in specific locations by Cisco and his breach powers.

"That's Lightspeed?" Felicity asked after seeing the angelic speedster for the first time. She turned to Iris and Caitlin. "How's everyone supposed to beat him?"

"We have to have faith in Ben's plan." Iris replied. "He knows more about Lightspeed than any of us." Unlike everyone else Iris still felt uneasy about their conflict with Lightspeed. Something about it felt orchestrated, much in the same way she felt about August before he gave his mantle to Ben. None of it made her feel any better.

"I guess." Felicity turned to Caitlin who had been quiet the whole time. "Caitlin? You OK?"

Felicity's question snapped Caitlin out of her trance. "What? Oh, I'm fine." She reassured the two other women. "I've just been feeling a little under the weather lately, and I-" On the monitors Caitlin watched as One of the Flashes took an exceptionally nasty hit. "BARRY!" Instinctively Caitlin cried out the name of her fiance while she moved her hand from the table to her stomach. An action that initially went unnoticed by Iris.

* * *

 **Cathedral Battlefield**

No matter how many times Lightspeed struck or knocked a Flash down they just kept getting back to their feet.

' _This is hopeless.'_ He clenched his fist in frustration as he eyed the downed speedsters. ' _The Blasphemer could be any one of them!'_ He was caught off guard in that moment and two bolts of lightning collided with his stomach knocking Lightspeed to the ground.

"Nice one kid." A Flash said as he placed a hand on the shoulder of the Flash who threw lightning at Lightspeed.

" _Now!"_ Cisco's voice came up over the intercom. Oliver, Robin and Thea leaped out from three breeches firing arrow after arrow at Lightspeed. Still dazed from the attack Lightspeed barely managed to avoid the projectiles when he was struck by one to his back.

Cisco smirked from his position, so far Ben's plan was working. Using his powers to open multiple breaches Cisco was effectively allowing the three archers to fire at Lightspeed from all directions simultaneously. Even with his crazy speed it would force him to run in only one direction, straight for the church, which he did.

Bobby and Laurel were waiting for him. Their was a ear splitting scream from inside the church as two sonic screams tore the doors from their hinges and collided with Lightspeed.

For the first time in a long while Lightspeed felt blood trickle from his ears. He hadn't bled in so long. As he fell to his knees thanks to the alternating screams of Black Siren and Sonic Boom The three Archers, Vibe and the five speedsters quickly surrounded him giving him no room for escape.

Lightspeed got back to his feet and took a few steps back. Perhaps it was time he unveiled the gift Godspeed had given to him in preparation. Good thing he planned ahead and stored it within the cathedral. Suddenly two beams of heat connected with his back, forcing him back to the ground. They were not but nowhere near as hot as his body temperature naturally was. when it stopped he glanced up to see Supergirl hovering over him with her hands on her hips. How quickly the tide had been turned against him.

"Stay down." Supergirl ordered. Lightspeed didn't obey so Kara used her super breath to pin him to the ground once more.

"GIVE HIM EVERYTHING YOU'VE GOT!" One of the Flashes yelled.

In tandem the speedsters launched lightning, Supergirl fired off her heat vision, Vibe fired a concussive blast Sonic Boom and Black Siren screamed as loudly as they could, and The Green Arrow, Speedy and Black Arrow fired off several explosive arrows. Everything collided and exploded throwing everyone back.

"Is it over?" Speedy asked.

"I think so." Cisco responded out of breath.

Unfortunately, within the pile of debris there was some stirring and Lightspeed stood up once more, only this time his armor was gone.

"COVER YOUR EYES!" A Flash yelled desperately.

In less than one second it began to vibrate, in another it unleashed a brilliant light that definitely blinded everyone present. " ** _This isn't over, not by a long shot_**!" He vanished into the church and before any of the Flashes could follow bright light emanated from every window before it quickly died down. For a moment, it was absolutely gorgeous with all the colors from the stain glass windows changing the shades of Lightspeed's light.

Lightspeed's unarmored body had effectively taken out Six of their main fighters; Vibe, Green Arrow, Speedy, Black Arrow, Black Siren and Sonic Boom had all been temporarily blinded.

When it finished dying down Lightspeed came out of the cathedral and the Flashes could see his full body covered from shoulder to toe in intricate golden armor. Designs of heavenly angels adorned his armor while his head was still covered with a white hood and his face glowed like the sun itself. Spreading from his back were four massive wings their shape was difficult to determine due to their brilliant glow.

All five Flashes were mesmerized by the deadly beauty of Lightspeed's armor. There was a mighty flap of the wings and Lucien took to the skies like a heavenly avenger.

"He can fly?!" One flash yelled out loud.

Lightspeed flapped his wings and unleashed a torrent of laser beams forcing the Flashes to dodge and weave at their absolute limit. Each laser beam exploded when it came into contact with anything that was in their way.

"And he can fire laser beams that explode?!"

"Doesn't matter!" Another Flash shouted back. "They can only travel in straight lines!"

" ** _I will burn this city so that it can be reborn in my holy light_**!" Lightspeed declared as he turned his attention to the rest of the city. Why did it seem like when he tired to spread the message of Godspeed he was constantly met with resistance in need of obliteration? It had been like this back in his home reality.

* * *

 **Earth-777**

 **Two Years Ago**

After guiding his people with a paradise in the sky Lucien, or rather Cassiel had decided it was time for them to spread their light to the heathens on the planet's surface.

" ** _No Mercy for the Heathens_**!" Cassiel declared as the heavenly armies of Central Heaven descended to the war-torn lands of the world below them. These lands were once theirs and now they were being desecrated by the people who now occupied them and constructed their vile buildings to 'science' or rather the Devil's Teachings as Cassiel called them. He watched with satisfaction as his holy followers purged the land and rounded up the heathens. Cassiel had brought forth several commandments for his men, never spill the blood of Women, Children, the innocent or the repentant and to Abandon the old ways that led to the destruction of their world.

The world below had one line of defense, A lone speedster just like Cassiel he had been granted his speed by the Particle Accelerator, though unlike Lucien this speedster fell alongside the more common speedsters in terms of his abilities. There wasn't too much special about him. His suit, if it could even be called that, was a thick dark red jacket and pants with golden lightning shaped bans running around his shins, biceps, wrists, waist and halfway across his chest, the center of each band had a silver reflective material within. His head was covered by a crimson helmet with a black visor covering his whole face. The visor on his face had device where the mouth was located that resembled a re-breather. Strapped to his back were two tanks one was connected to a breathing apparatus and the other was connected to a nozzle on his right wrist. In his left hand was a three-foot axe ready to be used at a moment's notice. His suit covered him head to toe leaving no skin visible, all in all it heavily resembled the suits worn by firefighters.

The speedster stood alone in front of Cassiel's army just to protect the people behind him. "Stand down!" He commanded. One of Cassiel's followers stepped forward and quick as lightning there was a line in the ground. "whoever crosses this line forfeits their life. This will be your only warning." The speedster said. One of the zealots chuckled and stepped over the line, an instant later he fell to the ground dead. "All of you leave now!" He commanded once more, this time many of the zealots whispered and wavered.

" ** _You are quite interesting Speedster."_** Cassiel stepped forward, yet not over the line. " ** _Tell me your name_**?"

The Speedster didn't make any moves. "Doesn't matter." He said. "I don't need the people to chant my name in the streets."

" ** _Very well,_** " Cassiel eyed the unnamed speedster like a predator, looking for any and all vulnerabilities. " ** _I am in a generous mood. Have your people lay down their weapons and join us. There will be no slaughter and we shall all be united in heaven. All you need to do is renounce the heinous acts that led us down this path."_**

The speedster looked away for a moment to the crowd behind him. "I don't think so." Cassiel waved his hand for his men to charge. Almost immediately The unmanned speedster raised his right hand and a stream of high pressure water burst forward like a fire hose drenching all the men and forcing them back. Lightning charged up in his left hand and all he needed to do was place his hand on the ground. The lightning traveled along the wet ground and electrocuted every member of Cassiel's army that he had sprayed with the hose. They all collapsed to the ground unresponsive. It was unknown whether they were alive or not but that didn't matter.

Cassiel watched quite surprised. He had definitely heard rumors about this speedster. Rumors that said Whenever the signal called, whenever there was danger (natural or Meta), he was always there, constantly tested by the danger and preforming rescues at lightspeed. The people called him the Red Rescuer, or the Fast Fireman, he had no true moniker because he never made one for himself. He admired and hated this man, the kind of person who would always do the right thing.

With nothing much left to lose Cassiel charged the unnamed speedster. He would spread his light to the whole world even if it meant killing this everyday hero.

Their battle was vicious and lasted an hour in speedster time, which was really only a minute or two as the real world viewed it. Their battle seemingly ended when The Red Rescuer slashed Cassiel across his chest, breaking open his armor just enough for him to hold his fire hose at point blank in the crack.

"FREEZE!" he commanded. "Don't make me do it!"

" ** _Do what? Your little fire hose cannot hurt me."_** Cassiel chuckled " ** _I am an angel of god_**."

"I've amped up the pressure to 90,000 psi." The nameless speedster replied. "It's got more than enough to puch a hole clean through you!"

" ** _You're bluffing_**!" Cassiel argued. " ** _Even if that little toy of yours could punch a hole in me you should know that my armor contains my power. If it is destroyed Hell will be unleashed on the world!_** "

"I'm warning you!"

" ** _JUST DO IT_**!" Cassiel challenged loudly.

The nameless speedster dropped his right hand. "No, this isn't the right way." He actually turned around and began to walk away. He'd beaten Cassiel but right now he had more important things to do, there were people that needed saving.

Cassiel was shocked and enraged. How dare this nameless goodie two shoes not only defeat him, but also humiliate him by refusing the killing blow. " ** _HOW DARE YOU TURN YOUR BACK ON ME_**!" He charged ready to deliver a fatal blow from behind.

The nameless speedster turned around and dropped to the ground while extending his right hand. It coursed with electricity before he shoved it into the crack in Cassiel's armor. A heartbeat later a high-powered stream of electrified water pierced through Cassiel's armor leaving Lucien shocked. With his armor compromised his power began to fluctuate at alarming speeds and a moment later, both Cassiel and the nameless speedster were swallowed by a massive golden explosion.

* * *

 **Present Day**

 **Earth-Prime, Central City**

Beams of death fell in Lightspeed's wake punching holes through the earth itself and detonating anything flammable.

As the five Flashes raced to quell the destruction and stop Lightspeed one Flash noticed an SUV detonate blasting a smaller car into the side of a building and onto it's roof. Immediately he raced over and wrenched open the door to get the people out before the car could explode.

The man and woman inside were panicking trying to escape.

"It's OK I've got you." The Flash said as he cut through the seatbelts with his vibrating hands and pulled the man out of the car first and then went back for his wife. He barely got her out before the car exploded right in front of him.

The Flash was thrown into a fire hydrant and the image of Barry Allen's Flash was shattered as his real form of Ben Allen's Godspeed was unveiled. Ben's ears were ringing and his sight was dulled by the brilliance of the explosion. He looked around and saw the woman checking over her husband. Both of them had cuts from the glass as well as light burns from where the explosion singed them.

"Are you OK John?" The woman asked

"I'm fine." John quickly glanced around. "Come on, there are people who need our help." They both looked up to see the white clad speedster known as Godspeed standing in front of them.

Ben froze in place when his vision returned and he got a good look at the two people he just rescued. Right in front of him were the people who murdered Barry and Caitlin.

* * *

This is the end of the chapter

Just a little fun fact; Cassiel is the name of an angel/archangel that appears in monotheistic works. His name translates both to 'Speed of God' and 'God is my Anger' both of which fit nicely with Lucien/Lightspeed's mythos. Not only this but he's the angel of Saturn, which is named after the roman god of harvest and also associated with the passage of time.

In all honesty Lightspeed/Lucien/Cassiel's story was a lot cooler in my mind. I had a difficult time portraying it here specifically the reasons for why Lightspeed/Lucien/Cassiel did the things that he did. I mean they essentially boil down to he's a religious fanatic.

Please tell me what you liked, didn't like, look forward to/think will happen, or your general thoughts and comments, this will help me make the story better; I'm a big boy so I can take criticism. And if you Review you get a Shout Out and questions answered either privately or in the next chapter.

Please share this with everyone you can via whatever platform of social media you want. I would love it if the whole fandom got to enjoy this story and not just the one on fanfiction.

Have a Fantastic day


	24. No Sacrifice, No Victory

**Disclaimer:** The following is a nonprofit Fan based story; The FLASH and all related characters are owned by DC comics, the CW and anyone I may have missed.

Like I always seem to say to the point of redundancy (doesn't mean it's any less true) I love everyone who Reviews, Favorites and or Follows any of my stories. Again, if I didn't respond I apologize and just let me know.

Reviews: **CallMeMiles, Galpalcj, Eliley, AReiss215, changingdestiny40, josephguy217**

If I didn't get to reply to any of you please let me know. I love talking to the people who love and express their love of this story.

Favorites: **primus light bringer Madmic0981 Yankeegirl244**

Followers: **primus light bringer Madmic0981 Yankeegirl244**

I'm starting to think some of these Favorites and Followers are just repeats, either way I still count them.

So, things in this chapter are crazy. and I'm not really sure if I transcribed it all as I wanted it. I'll probably be going back to this chapter and fiddle with it before I finish the next one. Also I hope everyone enjoys Premiere Week this week. Supergirl, Flash, Legends and Arrow are all returning this week! I am nervous, excited and apprehensive. But I'll Also give you all fair warning I plan to return to Middle-Earth as Shadow of War is coming out The same day Flash returns and I know I'll be playing the hell out of it.

Either way I hope you all enjoy this chapter. Tell me what you think.

* * *

 _The Flash: Survival of the Fastest_

Chapter 23: No Sacrifice, No Victory

* * *

 **Central City**

 **One Hour Ago**

Jason McGrath and his wife Miranda McGrath happily drove through Central City. They had just gotten married about a month ago and were currently embarking on a cross country road trip, hitting every major city and land mark. They were in Central City hoping to catch a glimpse of The Flash.

"So, we're half way through out trip and have seen everything west of the Mississippi River." Miranda said as she crossed their latest landmark off of her phone's list.

"All we need to do here is see the Flash and then we're off." Jason replied.

It was in this moment that Lightspeed's message was sent out to the whole city, including to Miranda's phone. The McGraths watched the message as Lightspeed challenged the Flash to a fight before cutting out.

They exchanged looks. "Looks like we'll have work to do." Jason said

Miranda sighed. "Good thing I always bring by bag."

Jason leaned over and kissed her. He was so lucky to have met her that faithful day.

They had met three years ago in Happy Harbor Rhode Island. Jason was, and still is, a firefighter while Miranda was a paramedic. Jason had just jumped out of the window of a burning building with a little girl no older than seven clinging onto him for dead life. They had landed safely on the tarp the other fire fighters were holding onto to break their fall. Almost immediately after Miranda was practically pushing him out of the way so she could look over the little girl.

" _What're you doing?"_ Jason had asked since Miranda wasn't exactly in a paramedic's uniform.

" _Don't worry, I'm a paramedic."_ She didn't even spare him a second look instead retaining her focus on the little girl. She didn't even hear him say thanks. " _We need to get her to an ambulance!"_ She called out to two other paramedics that had just arrived on the scene.

Once the little girl was safely on her way to the hospital Miranda approached Jason. " _Now, it's your turn."_

" _I'm fine."_

" _You were in that building for ten minutes without your mask."_ She had replied professionally. _"I know you gave it so the little girl wouldn't breathe in the smoke."_ Her tone demolished any potential for an argument.

While she checked him over the two of them talked for a bit which resulted in them learning that they had gone to the same elementary, middle and high schools and had been in many of the same classes yet they never actually met each other until today. Soon they found themselves seeing a lot of each other almost at every dispatch and John eventually asked her to lunch and that evolved into dinner, spotting events or even Netflix and chill moments when they weren't on duty.

A year ago, John popped the question, it might not have been the most romantic but to be fair he almost died and right then. When he woke up with her by his side John took her hands in his own and asked her. He always knew the dangers of his job but now he was afraid of what it would do to Miranda. She didn't even hesitate for a moment before saying yes.

Eight months later they were married and off on their cross-country road trip.

As Jason and Miranda arrived at the scene where Lightspeed was fighting the Flash, or rather Flashes and several other heroes, they stopped and helped out anyone they could who was injured in the crossfire. Nothing was going to stop them from helping these people not even when they were hit with and explosion and their car was turned over, nor when the speedster known as Godspeed pulled them from the wreckage and seemed to stare at them with recognition.

* * *

 **Present Time**

Ben was left stunned as he recognized Jason and Miranda McGrath. In the future, they were the ones to gut Caitlin, leave her bleeding in the street and then they killed Barry in a fight several years later. Ben had been very young when it happened, so young that he was taken in by Iris. There were parts of his life he refused to share with anyone from this time period because it threatened the delicate balance of the Space-Time Continuum. There was no rhyme or reason behind John and Miranda's butchering of Caitlin nor their murder of Barry. They were just a couple of psychopaths. The world was better off without them.

He grabbed Jason and threw him into a nearby lamp post. Miranda screamed but before she could crawl away Ben grabbed her by the leg and dragged her over to her husband.

"Wait! Please!" She pleaded with him but he swiftly kicked her across her face cutting open her bottom lip.

"You're not going to kill them." Ben said savagely.

"Kill?" Miranda was confused and frightened. "What are you talking ab-" she was cut off by Ben punching her.

The Flash's son was determined to make their deaths slow and painful, just like they had done to his parents.

* * *

 **With Lightspeed vs The Flashes**

Lightspeed raced through the air feeling a sense of euphoria he hadn't felt in a long time. He felt free as he rained destruction down below him. These Heathens and Blasphemers were not worthy to receive his blessings nor those of Godspeed. They multiverse was better off without them. He caught the kryptonian girl flying towards him while her eyes glowed blue for her signature heat vision. Lightspeed smirked and raced towards her just as she unleased her eye-beams.

They passed harmlessly though his body thanks to phasing so Supergirl readied a punch. The two flyers flew at high speeds and in the last millisecond Lightspeed twisted his body and flipped over delivering an overhead kick to Supergirl's collar. Normally such a move would result in the attacker being considerably hurt but thanks to physics Lightspeed's kick was as strong, if not more so, as one of Supergirl's punches.

The Girl of Steel was sent rocketing into the earth while Lightspeed floated effortlessly in the air.

Kara knocked some rubble off of her while one of the Flashes stopped nearby. "You OK?" He asked

Kara felt liquid touch her lip. She raised her hand to it and followed it up to her nose. When she pulled her hand away she saw blood on her finger. "How can he hit so hard?" Kara asked turning to the Flash closest to her. "I thought he was supposed to be a speedster just like you guys?"

"Basic physics." The Flash replied "Force equals mass times acceleration. He hits at the speed of light so the force of his strikes is massive I'd argue they might have a relativistic mass of a white dwarf star."

Kara gave him a confused look. "That sounds like a load of gibberish."

"It's science."

"You are such a dork." Kara said rolling her eyes. "How're we supposed to beat him then?"

An Idea seemed to instantly creep into the Flash's mind. "We use his own trick against him!"

"How?" Kara asked. "Last I checked none of us can move at the speed of light."

"That's just it Kara. Even if he can move at Lightspeed it takes him a while to get there!" The Flash said excitedly. "which means we need everyone to run together and sync up."

"Sync up? What will that do?"

"Ben told me that when multiple speedsters run together their speed adds up and multiplies by the number of runners. If we all move together we might be able to catch Lightspeed at his weakest moment."

Kara seemed to understand where The Flash was going with his idea. "What do you need me to do?"

As Lightspeed soared through the air he heard the sound barrier break several times. He looked over his shoulder to see the four remaining Flashes and Supergirl running side by side, building up their speed.

* * *

 **Earth-777**

 **Two Years Ago**

In the wreckage of the explosion people were gathering to see what became of Cassiel and the nameless speedster.

The rubble shook and everyone watched as Cassiel was the one to stand up clutching the nameless speedsters broken helmet. As soon as he did many of the people who weren't following him already fell to their knees weeping in terror.

" _ **You are all now free of his influence."**_ Cassiel said to the people as he threw the helmet to the ground. " _ **Come, join me in paradise**_!"

Nobody moved not even when the rubble shifted again and the nameless speedster stood up. For the most part his suit was intact aside from the entire right sleeve being incinerated and the tanks on his back having been dislodged along with a large hole burned in the back.

The Nameless Speedster was breathing heavily and while Lucien's demands of how he survived fell on deaf ears he couldn't help but think back to the day the particle Accelerator Exploded eighteen years ago. The explosion claimed the life of his father leaving his mother a twenty six year old widow to raise an eight year old boy. His parents had been high school sweethearts and he was conceived when they were eighteen year old seniors. Despite the death of his father he never let his sadness or fear show, especially not when he decided to follow his father's footsteps to become a firefighter. It was during this time he discovered his gift of speed. And as his career progressed people gave him the nickname Lightspeed Rescue. He didn't care much for nicknames at all, and he liked to think that his father Barry Allen was watching him from the afterlife proud of what he was doing. It was this fearlessness and courage in the face of danger that got him recognized, and not by the people of Earth. He remembered the words so well.

- _ **Carter Allen of Earth, You have the Ability to Overcome Great Fear. Welcome to The Green Lantern Core.-**_

After that day Carter wore his ring everywhere he went and only used it when he absolutely had to, and this looked to be the proper situation to use his ring. "You asked me my name before. I'll tell you. My name is Carter Allen, and I'm not only a speedster but I am also a proud member of the Green Lantern Corps." The ring on Carter's right hand flared to life with a roar like a rocket engine. The tattered remains of Carter's uniform were overcome with emerald flames that replaced it with a green and black suit. In the center was a green emblem resembling a lantern with a lightning bolt running across it. He charged Cassiel at top speed forming two Fire Engines out of green light which collided with Lucien and broke apart as if they struck a brick wall.

The Golden light and green light continued to crash into each other at high speed. Each time they broke apart Lucien and Carter charged as fast as they could go. They reared their fists. From the ground, it was just streaks of yellow and green light repetitively clashing against each other. Each clash delivered a bigger concussive blast as they got faster and faster, one thing was for certain, the gold light was trying to escape from the green light.

Gold and Green light crisscrossed the sky in a beautiful display. Their battle eventually moved to even Central Heaven's floating streets. Lucien and Carter charged yet again and this time charged at top speed. Despite being Yellow and Green the world around them began to blueshift as their perspectives of light wavelengths increased exponentially.

There wwas a mighty boom as their fists collided. Lucien felt each bone from his hand to his shoulder shatter. Harold's entire left arm, which was made of green light shattered like glass. The two light based speedster rocketed to the floating ground of. By now both speedsters were done, but Cassiel watched as Harold's arm reformed effortlessly.

"Do you give up yet?" Carter said

" _ **Never…"**_ Cassiel breathed heavily

Up in the sky above them at the point their fists connected something began to form. There was an intense gravitational pull coming from that point in space. Buildings of Central Heaven began to lean towards the point in space before stretching and breaking apart as they flew into a forming abyss. The impact of two lightspeed projectiles colliding resulted in the creation of a Black Hole. Immediately Carter dove into action forming three colossal Fire Fighter constructs that grabbed a hold of the entire floating City desperately trying to hold it in place while Carter himself raced around the city like a green blur gathering up everyone he could to try and save them. green constructs began to spring up everywhere tethering buildings and people doing whatever they could to hold the city together.

Unfortunately Lucien was none too pleased that Carter was getting to be the hero. That was Cassiel's job. He fired a beam of golden light at Cater which nearly broke his concentration.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Carter yelled over the roaring winds and crumbling buildings.

" _ **THESE ARE MY PEOPLE! I WILL NOT HAVE YOU CORRUPT THEM**_!" Lucien grabbed Carter and ran him to the highest building in Central Heaven fully intent on throwing the heroic Lightspeed into the abyss.

Carter struggled in Lucien's grip before looking at the people in distress. He headbutted Lucien making him let go of Carter. Carter then kicked Lucien to get him airborne and trapped in the black hole's gravitational pull, unfortunately Carter was also caught in the pull so he created a new ax construct and buried it into the ground and held on as tightly as he could. Lucien in a desperate attempt to save himself reached out and grabbed onto Harold's foot slowly climbing up his leg to avoid being sucked into the black hole.

" _ **You did this!"**_ Godspeed's servant yelled angrily. " _ **Because of you my city is gone**_!"

"You did that yourself when you attacked us!" Carter fired back trying to kick Lucien off of him. "YOU CANNOT SEE THAT YOUR PEOPLE NEED HELP! YOU REFUSE TO LET THEM GET IT!" Carter looked from Lucien to the encroaching Black Hole and back to his ax before looking Lucien in his eyes. Cassiel realized immediately what Carter was planning.

" _ **NO!"**_ But it was too late. Harold closed his eyes, smiled and dispelled his ax construct leaving both himself and Lucien at the mercy of the black hole.

It's a surreal thing, knowing of your imminent death that is. While Lucien flailed about like a fish out of water Carter calmly accepted his fate as he knew what he needed to do. At the same time, Time slowed down to nearly a complete halt. Lucien, Harold, people and debris were left suspended in reality as a Speedster clad in white entered the looked towards Lucien and shook his head disapprovingly. He had such high hopes that he could not allow the servant of god to end inside a Black Hole. He casually made his way over to Cassiel and pulled him away from Earth-777, leaving Carter Allen, also known as Lightspeed at the mercy of the Black Hole.

* * *

 **Unknown Time and Place**

Everything returned to Lucien a moment later only for him to find himself in a completely unknown world. One of the few things he noticed was that his speed was gone as was his glowing form. He felt completely human. "Where am I?" He asked.

" _ **Ah, Lucien**_." He turned to see Godspeed slowly making his way towards him. " _ **Good to see you have recovered**_."

"What happened? Where are we my lord?"

" _ **Patience my friend. First, allow me to welcome you to the source of our powers. Welcome to the Speed Force! As for your world, I'm sorry but the Black Hole destroyed your city**_."

"No" Lucien collapsed to his knees. He had failed. "My people are gone, your followers are all dead."

Godspeed seemed to offer a smile beneath his mask. " _ **All is not lost.**_ " He offered his hand. " _ **There are an infinite amount of worlds out there for you to rebuild on. And even more still where you can save the people.**_ "

Lucien thought for a moment. "If I am to do this, I cannot use the name Cassiel, for I am not worthy to be called that any more. Instead I shall take the name Lightspeed and make every world tremble and despise the name of the man from my world!"

Godspeed nodded. " _ **Well then, Lightspeed, Let us get started shall we**_?"

From there Lucien traveled the Multiverse and Infinite Time Lines on behalf of Godspeed, spreading his message recruiting any speedster who would listen and eliminate any and all who would oppose them.

* * *

 **Earth-Prime**

 **Present Day**

The lead Flash felt the speed of the others coursing into him. Slowly he felt himself getting faster with each step, but it never felt like it would be enough to catch Lightspeed. From behind him, everyone could see clearly as the lead Flash's yellow lightning changed from its usual yellow to jet black.

"Barry?" The third Flash asked.

The true Flash, which was the one in the lead didn't seem to register his name being called.

Lightspeed adjusted his attack and flew towards the Flashes firing off lasers as he did. As Fast as the speedsters were, they were not fast enough to avoid the incoming lasers. Three of the four Flashes were struck and their disguises were broken revealing them to be Cobalt Blue, Kid Flash and The Flash of Earth-3.

Lightspeed recognized the three imposter Flashes and immediately turned his attention to the last Flash. " _ **FLASH**_!"

Barry was momentarily caught off guard when Lightspeed closed the distance between them with a kick already coming around to strike Barry. Lucien's kick struck true as he caught Barry in the ribs and sent him hurtling into the side of a building.

" _BARRY!"_ Caitlin's voice carried through the comms in a desperate hope her fiancé heard her.

* * *

 **With Ben and the McGraths**

Ben readied his vibrating left hand to run it through Miranda McGrath's heart. He was going to end it right here and now.

"JASON!" Miranda screamed through her tears.

"RAAAAAAAHH!" Jason came out of nowhere and decked Ben in the face launching him into a wall.

"What?" Ben was confused as he struggled to get himself out of the crater. He didn't get a chance to react as Jason McGrath grabbed the remnants of a nearby SUV and slammed it onto Ben. Ben Barely phased out of the way.

He saw Jason McGrath lift his wife into his arm. He sent a death glare Ben's direction that sent shivers down Ben's spine. The Young speedster watched as every wound on Jason McGrath's body healed in an instant.

"Jason… no…" Miranda said weakly. "Don't…"

Jason looked from Ben and then back to his wife. "You will not come for us. You will not touch her."

Ben, having freed himself from his concrete imprisonment, felt the lightning charge through his body. He raced forward. He had to kill these two, otherwise they would kill Barry and Caitlin.

Suddenly something searing hot wrapped around wrist and yanked him away from Jason. Ben yelled in pain and looked at his wrist which was now covered in third degree burns. The sound of metal chains and the crackling of fire drew his attention from the McGraths to his assailant.

He turned and came face to face with someone he never thought he'd see again, someone he recognized all too well despite their pale skin.

"Y-you!?" Ben stuttered feeling an uneven wave of dread wash over him. "You're dead! I saw you die!"

"What do you think you're doing?" The man demanded angrily as his eyes began to glow a fiery red.

Ben glared at him from behind his mask. "Changing my future!" He began to run in a circle building up his speed force until he unleashed a white lightning bolt at the man.

It struck him square in the chest and knocked him to the ground with a smoldering burn in the center of his chest. Satisfied Ben turned his attention back to the McGraths who were embracing each other.

A hand grabbed Ben's right arm tightly. Ben turned to see the man once more standing up looking more pissed off than injured. The burn on his chest was gone and his body was giving off a ridiculous amount of heat.

"What the hell are you?!" Ben demanded. The man said nothing, instead he grabbed Ben by the throat and lifted him up.

"Now you've really crossed the line Godspeed." The man said. He winced in pain as his body vibrated and began to smoke before he was engulfed in fire. His flesh burned away yet he still seemed to be alive as black lightning coiled around him like a snake forming a familiar black suit.

Jason cradled his bleeding wife and watched on with indifference. Miranda was barely holding onto consciousness and he could barely believe what he was seeing. Jason and Miranda didn't completely understand what was happening but they felt something coming off the flaming devil speedster, a warmth, a strange reassuring warmth.

"Who are you?" Jason asked.

Speed Demon said nothing but he turned his attention to the McGraths. But his look told Jason to get his wife out of there.

Ben realized what was happening, Speed Demon finally had him in his clutches, and this time there was no way for him to escape.

* * *

 **With Barry and Lightspeed**

First thing Barry realized was that he wasn't dead from Lightspeed's kick, heck he didn't even feel a thing. He felt perfectly fine. He got back up and gave himself a once over to make sure everything was good to go, which it was.

A smirk crossed onto the Flash's face before he ran out of the debris towards Lightspeed. Black lightning danced all around Barry as he closed the distance between Lightspeed and himself. IN the next moment he drove his shoulder into Lightspeed's exposed back knocking him away from the rest of his friends.

" _ **I think I've figured out your powers."**_ Barry said as Lightspeed pushed himself back to his feet. His voice vibrated deeply. " _ **You can move at the speed of light, but only in straight lines. Your reactions are impressive but if you cannot see it coming you cannot dodge**_."

Lightspeed fired off another laser from his palm only for Barry to dodge effortlessly by leaning his head out of the way. It was kind of strange it was almost like he was now seeing things happen before they actually happened. " _ **Too slow**_."

Lucien flinched just before he readied to fire more beams. Barry, with the help of his newfound speed was able to keep up with Lightspeed's attacks. He zigged and zagged avoiding every single beam as he closed the distance in a heartbeat. Once he was close enough Barry grabbed a hold of Lightspeed's out stretched wrist and violently twisted it before striking Lightspeed in the center of his chest.

The moment he struck Lightspeed there was a clap of thunder and an explosion of golden light. When it died down and the smoke cleared Lightspeed, or rather Lucien had stumbled slightly, but he was no longer glowing and his armor weighed heavily on him.

The Flash wrapped his arms around Lightspeed's torso and drove him into the ground.

Lucien was slightly dazed but he could see The Flash crouching over him. " _ **You're done**_." He growled before he began to pummel Lightspeed's face with a flurry of hands and black lightning.

Barry was deaf to the outside world as he continued to mercilessly beat Lightspeed. Vaguely he could hear the voices of Wally, Jay, Eddie Iris and Felicity but something inside him made him completely ignore what little noise he was hearing

" _BARRY STOP_!" The sound of Caitlin's voice echoed in Barry's ears and he finally stopped. Lightspeed's body was laid out flat with his face bloodied and beaten barely breathing.

Reality slowly set in for Barry when he looked at how badly he beat Lightspeed. "What… What did I just do?" Barry asked himself as he stepped back. He looked at his hands to see the black lightning fade back to yellow.

"… **cough** … **cough** …" Blood escaped from Lightspeed's mouth as he rolled over. He felt different for the first time in two decades. He felt normal. "This… this is impossible… My speed… it's gone!?" He began to crawl away from Barry in fear. "How could I… a servant of Godspeed be beaten like this…"

Barry snapped out of his trance, along with "Godspeed?" What was Lightspeed talking about? Was it August or Ben? What would either of them have to do with this?

Lucien looked at the Flash and a wicked bloody smile spread on his face. "… **Ha…** That's right… you don't know… Olvida proved her usefulness."

"What do you have to do with Ben and August?" Barry demanded.

"I'll never tell." Lightspeed said.

Barry was about to grab Lightspeed one more time and take him to the pipeline when something rushed through him. Whatever it was it was humanoid in shape but seemingly made entirely of black smoke. It was ruthlessly efficient. It slammed a heavy foot onto Lucien's chin and shifted its surprisingly weighted body to brutally snap Lightspeed's neck.

"NO!" Barry yelled out as the figure disappeared in wisps of black lightning.

"DAD!" Barry whirled around following the black lightning to see them returning to a sight eerily familiar, but infinitely more horrifying. Speed Demon was standing not too far from Barry, the Flashes and Supergirl. In his left hand he held Ben off the ground.

Ben looked horrible. His mas had been torn off exposing his face to everyone, though the amount of blood would make it difficult for bystanders to recognize him. His legs looked broken, due to the left leg bending in the wrong direction and one of his bones sticking out of his right leg. Ben's right arm was completely gone and he was bleeding profusely from the shoulder. The Son of the Flash was on death's door, and the devil had him in his grasp.

* * *

 **STAR Labs**

Caitlin instinctively stood up clutching her stomach protectively. "BEN!" Feelings she had never felt crashed into her at the sight of Ben's predicament.

"Oh my god…" Iris covered her mouth to stifle a gasp.

Iris and Felicity were equally horrified and worried at the sight of Caitlin and Barry's future son. There really was no telling what Caitlin was going through since neither of them had ever experienced watching their child hurt so badly.

* * *

 **With Barry, Ben and Speed Demon**

"Wait!" Barry pleaded. "Please! Let him go!" Speed Demon looked at Barry and made no response. "Take me!" Barry refused to stop pleading. "Please… that's my son… please don't…"

The black speedster turned from Barry back to the broken speedster barely squirming in his grasp. Instead He readied his free hand to run through Ben. The other speedsters, and Supergirl immediately were on top of him but Speed Demon was too strong. With one hand he effortlessly threw Wally, Eddie, Jay and Kara off of him effortlessly. He then repositioned himself so that Barry had a clear view as he readied his hand once more.

"Barry, look at me." Ben said. He tried to put on a brave face but his lip quivered and his eyes watered with tears. "I just want you and mom to know… I love you guys"

"DON'T SAY THAT!" Barry cried at his son. Those words were eerily similar to when he accidentally saw Savitar murder Iris in that alternate future that never happened. "NO!" Barry screamed out as he ran forward towards Speed Demon desperate to save his son.

The same emotions swelled through his as Speed Demon's hand inched closer and closer to Ben's back threatening to tear through him and out of his chest. The world had long since slowed to a near halt and nothing else mattered. Barry was moving faster than he had ever gone before. Despite that he didn't seem to get any closer to Speed Demon.

Caitlin watched the events unfold through Barry's chest cam. Her heart froze in terror as she found herself unable to breath. It was beautiful, the way both Barry and Caitlin were crying out for their son despite being in separate locations yet still viewing the same event.

Barry's focus was completely on Ben. And a millisecond later it was all over. Barry was still midstride with his right arm extended in a futile attempt to pull his son away from the devil but it was all for nothing. Speed Demon's black hand pierced a hole through Ben's torso.

* * *

This is the end of the chapter

Please tell me what you liked, didn't like, look forward to/think will happen, or your general thoughts and comments, this will help me make the story better; I'm a big boy so I can take criticism. And if you Review you get a Shout Out and questions answered either privately or in the next chapter.

Please share this with everyone you can via whatever platform of social media you want. I would love it if the whole fandom got to enjoy this story and not just the one on fanfiction.

Have a Fantastic day


	25. Until We Meet Again

**Disclaimer:** The following is a nonprofit Fan based story; The FLASH and all related characters are owned by DC comics, the CW and anyone I may have missed.

Like I always seem to say to the point of redundancy (doesn't mean it's any less true) I love everyone who Reviews, Favorites and or Follows any of my stories. Again, if I didn't respond I apologize and just let me know.

Reviews: **josephguy217, SA June, Master Skywalker 121, CallMeMiles, wilsonenmanual43, Eliley** and **changingdestiny40**

Favorites: **Dadaamerica, Percabeth4eva1, scarletspeedster013, shadowmwape, Hanyoushiro, Yankeegirl244** and **Alice-Emma-Cullen**

Followers: **Dadaamerica, scarletspeedster013, shadowmwape, Yankeegirl244** and **Alice-Emma-Cullen**

OK I want to shout out to Lilteds and their amazing _Evolution of Snowbarry_ series. There's a scene at the end of this chapter that came out that may seem familiar to people who follow Lilteds stories. To be fair you can definitely spot the differences considering the similar circumstances.

Aside from that I hope I captured the emotional turmoil from the previous chapter's ending

On that note I changed Ben's middle name from Jason to Joseph. I've got to go back to my previous chapters and make the proper adjustments. In fact I'm probably going to go back and make adjustments to all the previous chapters for consistency's sake.

Also, I'm like 95% sure I wrote a scene b/w Caitlin and her mother in this story but I cannot find it anywhere for the life of me. If someone knows where it is (or finds it) could they point it out to me? This is driving me crazy!

* * *

 _.The Flash: Survival of the Fastest_

Chapter 24: Until We Meet Again

* * *

 **February 3 2018**

 **Godspeed's Hideout**

The successor to Savitar chuckled to himself at his good fortune. Finally, for the first time in what felt like years Speed Demon was off his back, at least for now. It would only be a matter of time until the devil was hunting him again, this bought him plenty of time to make sure he can never bother him again.

It was a long road coming here but in his mind, it was worth it. He allowed his mind to drift back to when he first learned of Speed Demon.

* * *

 _ **November 12 2043**_

 _ **Godspeed's Old Base**_

 _Godspeed stood in front of his latest recruit. A quivering shell of a once promising speedster. Godspeed groaned in frustration as he grabbed the man's chin and lifted him up. He was about to question why he had returned, there was no way he could have accomplished his mission in 2044, that's when he noticed it, the mark._

 _Burned into the right side of the man's face was a hand print._

 _" **He marked you**." Godspeed stated the fact out loud._

 _"You… you didn't tell us we were going after him…" The man's voice trembled with fear. "You sent us after The Graverunner!"_

 _" **It shouldn't be that difficult to kill him. He is just a man**!"_

 _"He… he's not human…We did kill him… multiple times… but it's like he rises from the dead… again and again…"_

 _" **I know the rumors**." Godspeed seethed. " **There is no such thing as immortality**." He spoke from experience, every immortal he'd come across he had easily killed them, permanently. Rumors had spread far and wide about The Graverunner. People said that the Black Flash, the embodiment of Death runs away from him or Can't catch him (it's one of the two). No one knows where he came from or even if he's a man or a woman._

 _"You… you didn't see him… I saw him… face to face…He moves like a ghost… fights like the devil… he killed everyone… but left me alive…He told me to tell you a message…"_

 _" **What message**."_

 _"He said… 'You're still next…'" Godspeed got angry and in his anger, he snapped the neck of the whimpering speedster._

* * *

 **Present Time**

Godspeed leaned back on a sofa he had stolen and kicked his feet up on his makeshift table. He chuckled to himself, for the most part everything was going according to his plan.

"You… won't win…" His prisoner spoke up weakly.

Godspeed turned to Abigale. And sent a glare her way. Most of his speedster army was now gone, either captured by the Flash and his Team, missing or killed by Speed Demon. That didn't bother him as much as it should, in fact it made him more dangerous. " _ **I will win Abigale. Because I have this."**_ In a flurry of golden-white lightning he was over at his lab and removed a cloth revealing the device he was currently working on, a small metallic half sphere.

Abigale recognized the device as the same one she saw in her visions, where either Speed Demon or the Flash's son ended up using it. "No… you can't!"

" _ **Once it is complete I won't have to worry about Speed Demon or even the Flash. It will all be mine. When I am done there will be no more Flash. He'll be gone, his City will be mine and best of all, his legacy will gone. It will all be mine!**_ "

* * *

 **Central City Cemetery**

The cold rain fell heavily soaking the grass and turning the dirt to mud. Barry and Caitlin stood silently hand in hand dressed in black with nothing except a large umbrella to keep the rain off of them. Everyone else had long since left leaving only Barry and Caitlin standing in front of the grave stone and the casket.

Three grave stones in a row. One for Nora Allen, one for Henry Allen and the newest one was for Ben.

 _Beloved Son, Nephew, Friend, Grandson and Hero_

 _Benjamin Joseph Allen_

' _To Be a Hero, You Don't Have to Do Big Things, Just the Right Things'_

The quote on the gravestone was something had said months ago. Barry and Caitlin thought it appropriate to have it engraved on the gravestone.

Barry's stiff figure shifted slightly when he felt Caitlin nudge closer to him and lean her heavy head on his shoulder. Her eyes were red and puffy, what little makeup she was wearing had been messed up by both the rain and her tears.

"Come on Cait…" Barry tugged her forward for them to place their hands on the casket that still was above ground. The worst thing about this whole ordeal, there was no body for them to even bury.

* * *

 _ **January 27 2018**_

 _ **With Barry, Ben and Speed Demon**_

 _Ben's eyes went wide and he took in that short last breath of air. His body went limp. Barry froze in place horrified. Before the Flash could make any movement towards his son, Ben's body, along with Speed Demon burned away like it was made of wisps of lightning until neither of them remained._

 _"NO!" Barry screamed as he stopped in the spot they were not even one second ago. Barry fell to his knees and screamed in agony. Hot tears poured from his eyes uncontrollably just before he began to viciously punch the ground in frustration._

 _All the other heroes, who had just barely recovered from Lightspeed and Speed Demon had come together around their agonizing friend._

 _"What happened?" Oliver asked._

 _It wasn't just Oliver asking Barry. Everyone was asking everyone for some clear explanation as to what had happened_

 _"Barry… where's Ben?" Cisco asked_

 _Barry looked at his friend sadly. He couldn't even bring himself to say what he just saw, He hoped this was all some horrific nightmare but he wasn't waking up._

 _In the end it was Wally who explained, as best as he could how Speed Demon had murdered Ben right in front of Barry and the rest of them._

* * *

 _ **S.T.A.R. Labs**_

 _The Heroes slowly entered into the cortex. Every single one of them was feeling the same thing, defeat. Even though they had stopped Lightspeed they had lost one of their own. When ever someone you know dies you never quite get over it.  
_

 _Iris ran to Eddie and embraced him. Felicity did the same to Oliver but he was a little hesitant to return the hug. Caitlin stood up and made her way to hug Barry tightly. Her eyes barely his the evidence that she had been crying, she stopped when she somehow managed to convince herself what she saw was not real but when she stepped back from her fiance she scanned the group for Ben hoping what she saw through Barry's chest cam wasn't real. Barry somberly gazed into his fiancé's eyes and shook his head silently. Caitlin felt a lump in her throat. She couldn't contain the tears any longer and she just broke down in Barry's arms. How could thing have gotten so bad? This was supposed to be a happy day but now it was one marked by tragedy. Both Barry and Caitlin completely tuned out whatever their friends were saying to them the only thing that mattered was each other and the small child growing inside of Caitlin._

 _Barry knew this was weighing down just as hard on Caitlin as it was on Barry. He had the overwhelming urge to protect her, at least he knew one way he could do that. Holding her tight Barry lifted her into his arms gently yet swiftly before running out of the Cortex and to their apartment.  
_

 _"Barry!" Someone had called out after him, to be honest he couldn't even register who said it and even if he could he didn't care. He had to get Caitlin as far from the pain._

* * *

 **Present Day**

 **Cemetery**

After a moment the couple slowly walked to Caitlin's car. Neither of them was in the mood to run, in fact neither had used their speed for the last week. Most of the heroics done in the last week had been carried out by Wally.

Everyone had been here for Ben's funeral, Team, Flash, Team Arrow, Jesse, Harry, Jay, and even Cynthia and H.R. made the jump from Earth-19. They barely remembered the service or anything leading up to it they were solely focused on the large casket. Neither of them could bring themselves to say a few words, thankfully Iris stepped in for them.

Barry and Caitlin slowly walked away from the grave without so much as a word. They drove home in silence, entered their apartment in silence and made their way straight to the bedroom in silence.

Without so much as a whisper they changed out of their clothes and got into bed. Caitlin fell asleep first. Barry, however, could not sleep. He just stared at his sleeping fiancé allowing his eyes to tradeoff between her face and her stomach.

Ben hadn't been in their lives for long but he was able to establish himself as one of the most important people in their lives. Barry sighed, he'd lost his mother, his father and now his future son. It made him terrified about what the future holds for him, he wasn't going to lose his fiancé nor his unborn child. He couldn't.

* * *

 **February 5 2018**

 **CCPD**

Barry slowly walked into his lab Monday morning. Captain Singh had offered for Barry to take as much time as he needed when he learned that Ben had been killed, during the chaos caused by Lightspeed.

Julien had returned to London for a currently indefinite amount of time which was no sweat off of Barry's back. The two of them had never really got onto the right foot, especially after learning Julian was Alchemy and working with Savitar, unintentionally.

As he placed his bag in his locker and hung his jacket over the back of his chair Barry noticed an envelope on the desk on top of the case files in his 'In' trey. Barry picked up the envelope to see it was addressed to him.

Using his letter opener Barry cut open the envelope and removed what was inside.

 _Dear Mr. Allen,_

 _You and another guest of your choosing are cordially invited to District Attorney David Caesar's Masquerade on Friday May 4_ _th_ _2018\. This Masquerade is serving as a farewell party for Mayor Hank Karen. As you are aware the mayor has decided to resign._

 _The event is a formal event, Gentlemen must wear either a formal suits or tuxedos while ladies are asked to wear formal evening wear. Of course, because this is a masquerade Everyone is required to wear a mask, preferably something elaborate and note store bought._

 _If you wish to attend please fill out the enclosed sheet specifying your meal choice as well as a plus one should that apply and return it to either District Attorney David Caesar or to his brother Detective Richard Caesar no later than Thursday March 1_ _st_ _2018._

 _We hope to see you at this event,_

 _David Caesar, District Attorney_

Barry read the invitation several times before callously tossing it onto his desk. He really wasn't in the mood for any kind of celebration. How could he? His son had been murdered right in front of him. Barry failed as a parent.

"Hey Barry." Barry looked up to see Joe enter into his lab. Joe could see how broken up Barry still was about Ben. They all were, everyone loved him. "You Ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine Joe." Barry offered up a smile as he picked up several of the files and evidence he still needed to process. "Just got a lot of work I need to do."

Joe nodded. "So, did you get the invite?"

"Invite?" Barry questioned before Joe pointed out the open invitation on his desk. "Oh yeah, that… I did, but I don't think I'll be going. You?"

"I was thinking of inviting Cecille." Joe answered honestly. "Eddie and Iris are also going."

"They are? How many people got invited?"

"Looks like the whole police department, everyone in the mayor's office as well as any benefactors Mayor Karen has." Joe sat down on the edge of Barry's desk. "Both in Central City, and Keystone City."

"That's a lot of people."

"Yeah, maybe you and Caitlin should think about joining us." Joe said offhandedly. "I think we could all use something like this."

Barry was quiet for a moment. "I'll talk to Caitlin about it, but I don't know if we'll be able to go." His thoughts wandered to his fiancé and currently unborn child, Caitlin would be into her second trimester, definitely showing. That reminded him they still hadn't told anyone Caitlin was pregnant.

Joe offered a soft smile to his son. He placed a hand onto Barry's shoulder reassuringly.

* * *

 **S.T.A.R. Labs**

"Thanks for breakfast Iris." Caitlin said as the two women exited the elevator leading to the Cortex.

"No problem." Iris replied with a smile. "I just want to make sure my future sister-in-law is staying healthy, even if she insists on eating two dozen banana and blueberry muffins along with four large herbal teas that smell like a compost station."

Caitlin chuckled. "Yeah…"

"Caitlin, I know you and Barry are still grieving Ben, but… I've got to ask" Iris started. "I noticed you rubbing your stomach several times a day over the last week. Are you alright?"

"What? Oh, I'm fine." Caitlin's tone and wavering smile were not at all convincing. "It's this new diet I'm on. Lots of foods high in nutrition instead of the large number of calories."

"You sure it's not because you're pregnant?" Iris asked with a sly smile.

Caitlin stopped mid stride. Her wide eyes confirmed her suspicion as her hand betrayed her by moving to her stomach. "How-"

"I'm an investigative journalist Caitlin. It's my job to notice details and put things together. Why haven't you told me?" She asked.

"We… we were going to…" Caitlin trailed off while struggling to hold in her tears. "But then Lightspeed attacked and then Ben…"

"Oh…" Iris suddenly understood why Barry and Caitlin hadn't mentioned the baby yet.

"He wasn't in our lives for long… Barry…despite his composure has a hole in his heart…" Caitlin continued

"What about you? How're you handling all of this?"

Caitlin bit her lip. "I feel horrible. I mean, I watched my son die but…I don't feel as sad or upset as I should. It's a feeling I cannot explain."

"Maybe… it's because of the baby." Iris offered. "Maybe deep down you know Ben isn't really gone because he's right here inside you." Iris gently guided Caitlin's hand back to her stomach. "You'll definitely see him again."

Caitlin smiled before pulling Iris into a hug. Somehow Iris knew just what needed to be said to help, in a way that is Iris' super power.

"Here I am moping about everything and I haven't even bothered to ask you how's the adoption process coming along?"

"Slowly" Iris replied honestly. "My dad says it took a while for him to get approved to legally adopt Barry since he was a single Parent."

"I'm positive when you and Eddie will be approved without a second thought."

"Thanks Caitlin, though I'm much more concerned that the birth mother will rescind the adoption at the last moment."

"If you're that worried why not just adopt from an orphanage?" Caitlin inquired taking a sip of her tea. "There are loads of kids just waiting to be adopted."

"We're still keeping that option on the table. Honestly, I'd prefer to adopt a child from an orphanage. Eddie thinks it might be easier to adopt a newborn."

Caitlin smiled. "If you adopt a child from an orphanage it would be like you're following your Dad's footsteps with Barry."

"Yeah…"

"Any ideas if you'll be getting a little boy or a girl?"

"That's something Eddie and I were able to agree on almost instantly." Iris chuckled "We want to get a little girl." Caitlin smiled.

"Well, good luck with getting your little girl."

"Thanks, and don't worry Caitlin, I won't tell anyone you're pregnant."

"Thank you, Iris, for everything."

"Of course. I'd do anything for my soon to be sister-in-law and godson." Iris winked. "I've got to get to CCPN, I'll see you later Caitlin." She waved to the bio-engineer before heading back towards the elevator leaving Caitlin to walk into the Cortex thinking about what she had just heard.

"Hey Caitlin." Cisco greeted his best friend with a smile. Much like everyone else Cisco had been giving Caitlin and Barry some much needed space, but that didn't stop him from trying to brighten up their days. "How're you today."

Caitlin offered up a smile. "I think I'm doing a lot better today."

"That's good to hear. Hey look, I don't know if you guys are ok with it but I got something for you and Barry."

"Really? What?" Caitlin asked.

"It's kind of a surprise. One that kind of requires Barry to be here, heck it might be best if everyone was here to see it." Cisco paused. "And by everyone, I mean _Everyone_. Team Flash, Team Arrow, Team Supergirl, and the Legends if they ever choose to respond to us."

Caitlin sighed. Of course, whatever Cisco was planning he planned on making it a huge event. "So anything new on the Meta-Human front?"

Cisco shook his head. "Oddly enough no." He pulled up the screen. "For the last week there hasn't been any Meta-Human activity, new or otherwise, heck there hasn't been so much as a parking violation."

"That's… good." Caitlin knew she was doing a lousy job of convincing herself about the situation.

"It's odd that's what it is." Cisco slid over to another monitor. "I cannot remember the last time we got such a break."

"Well it's one we need." Caitlin slid into her seat next to Cisco.

"Caitlin, I set up a new training program for you, Barry and Wally. Want to check it out?"

"Uh not right now Cisco. I've got a lot of work to catch up on." Caitlin replied.

"Really?" Cisco cocked an eyebrow. "What're you working on? Cause last I check S.T.A.R. Labs Museum didn't really work and people aren't exactly lining up offering grants for us to do research."

"I'm actually working on a patient file." Caitlin responded. "From Central City Memorial Hospital."

"Really? Good for you." Cisco was happy for his friend. "Anything I can help with?"

Caitlin shook her head. "No, I've got it handled Cisco. Thanks anyway." She turned back to her computer to analyze her patient

In truth the patient she was analyzing was her own file. Her pregnancy accounted for the nausea and tiredness she was generally feeling but it didn't cover why she seemed to be losing her connection to the Speed Force. Part of her wished she could just dive into the Speed Force and find out why she was losing her powers. Barry had done it once, but that was when he sacrificed his speed to Zoom to save Wally. Barry had explained to her how the Speed Force took the form of the people he loved most when he talked with it, which made Caitlin wonder who would it appear as if she were to enter the Speed Force.

* * *

 **CCPN**

"Morning Scott." Iris greeted her boss as she entered into the main office.

"Good morning Iris, did you get that story I asked for?"

"Done and sent over." Iris replied.

"Excellent. How're your interns doing?"

"Derick and Daphne? They're doing great though I haven't seen much of them the last week."

"Daphne told me that they had to study for an exam." Scott replied. "They should be coming in later today if not tomorrow."

"Well, I'd better get to work." Iris replied

"What's got you in such a good mood today?" Scott asked.

"Oh nothing, just my future sister-in-law's wedding is approaching." Iris was planning on keeping true to her word that she wouldn't mention Caitlin's pregnancy to anyone. "I may need some time off."

"OK, when?"

"They don't have a set date yet, all they have is June."

"Well, when you have a clear date head over to HR and fill out the form." Scott left Iris to return to his office.

Iris sat herself down at her desk and began to research her next story.

An hour later she looked up at the sound of the door opening and she saw Derrick and Daphne walk in.

"Good morning Iris." Daphne greeted.

"Hi guys. How're you doing?"

"We're doing good. Spent some time with some old friends last week and we had a fairly large test this morning."

"Eight AM…" Derrick groaned. "I've never been a morning person, and I never will."

As Iris chatted away with the interns a man walked into CCPN. There wasn't much about him. He wore a slick black suit and was well groomed. After talking with the secretary, he made his way towards Iris, Daphne and Derrick.

"Where's Iris West? I need to speak with Iris West."

"I'm Iris West." Iris replied stepping forward. "What can I do for you?"

"You can die." The man pulled a gun from his pocket aimed at Iris's heart and pulled the trigger.

Iris closed her eyes and braced herself for the bullet's impact and the inevitable darkness that followed when one it shot through the heart, but it never came, in fact there was no pain. She opened her eyes and saw her assailant also had a look of disbelief.

Inches from her chest Derrick had his hand stretched out holding the bullet between his index and thumb.

"What the-" A fist came out of nowhere and clocked the gunman in the jaw knocking him down and out. Iris then noticed the fist belonged to Daphne.

"Derrick? Daphne? What… what is going on?"

The twins exchanged looks before turning to Iris. "Iris… I think it's time we had a proper chat."

* * *

 **S.T.A.R. Labs**

Cisco sat at the desk in his lab tinkering with a new gadget. Ever since Ben was killed Cisco knew both Barry and Caitlin would be more determined than ever to stop Speed Demon so he had been trying to figure out how they could potentially track down and trap the demonic speedster. So far all of his experiments were appearing mute.

This was a similar circumstance to when Zoom murdered 'Jay' two years ago and their whole ordeal with Savitar. Barry was showing those early determination signs.

Speed Demon was as elusive if not more enigmatic than the God of Speed. At least he couldn't possess people and speak through them, at least Cisco hoped he didn't. Plus, his motivations didn't seem to stack up. What did he have to gain from killing other speedsters? And if he wanted to kill all speedsters why hadn't he come after Barry, Caitlin, Wally or any other speedster they knew?

"Cisco" the engineer turned around to see Caitlin standing in the doorway. "I'm heading home for the night." Cisco glanced up at the clock to see it was 6:30. Where had the day gone? He wondered.

"Alright Caitlin, I'm just going to hang here a little while longer. I'll give you and Barry a call if anything Meta related comes up."

"OK Cisco." Caitlin waved to her friend before leaving him alone to tinker with his inventions.

Cisco turned to a defunct cold gun. He really wished they knew more about Speed Demon, heck he wishes he had finished the cold gun and brought it to their fight with Lightspeed, they might have been able to use it to quell some of the destruction and maybe use it to save Ben. Cisoc turned his attention to a small drawer. He opened it revealing a small stone that glowed whiteish blue. The tiny fragment of the Philosopher's Stone. Caitlin had kept a tiny piece of it to try and cure her mother of her frosty abilities to no avail.

He remembered that day too well. Wally had been feeling the pressure Barry and Eddie were placing on him to save Iris from Savitar and in a moment of weakness Savitar got to him. Wally took the stone fragment and fully intended on chucking it into the Speed Force. Luckily Barry, Caitlin and the rest of the Team figured out that was exactly what Savitar wanted. The two speedsters barely arrived at Wally's location and intercepted the stone fragment before it could be reunited in the Speed Force.

It was quite interesting that simple action of stopping Wally did what they were struggling to prevent for months. Almost immediately The Team discovered Iris was once again the author of the article, her future had been saved.

After that Caitlin had Cisco store the stone fragment somewhere where no one would be tempted by it. Cisco however kept the piece of the stone. He didn't know why but he did. Maybe it was for this. Maybe it was the key to stopping Speed Demon. If only they knew how Barry imprisoned Savitar in the Speed Force, they could potentially lock Speed Demon away in the same prison as the God of Speed.

* * *

 **Later That Evening**

 **Barry and Caitlin's Apartment**

Caitlin fished her key out of her purse and used it to unlock the door. She took off her coat, hung it on the rack near the door and saw Barry laying on the couch with a blanket covering his lower half and Jeopardy on but muted. He seemed to be watching the gameshow but not really paying attention to it. He didn't even acknowledge Caitlin entering the room.

"Barr…?" Caitlin asked as she fixed her skirt so she could sit on the couch next to her fiancé. "You Ok?" Barry turned to his fiancé nodded and turned back to the TV. He had sat upright and offered half the blanket to Caitlin which she accepted.

They sat in awkward silence until Jeopardy ended. Caitlin took the remote and turned the TV off. She turned so she was facing Barry.

"Barry… please talk to me…what's bothering you?"

"He took Ben from us…" Barry said quietly. "What else could you possibly want me to say?"

"I know…"

"Cait, Speed Demon **Murdered** our son! Right in front of me!" Barry cried. "There wasn't even a body to bury! We couldn't have an open casket even if there was because of how badly he mutilated Ben's body!" Barry let his tears fall. He was just so angry and now he felt horrible because he was letting it out on Caitlin who must have been suffering as much as him. "I'm sorry Cait… I don't know how you do it… how you keep yourself so composed after losing someone you love… I've never been good at it…"

Caitlin gently took Barry's hands into her own. "I just… concentrate on what I… what we still have…" She coughed a tiny bit to prevent the lump in her throat from fully forming. "We still have each other… our friends… our baby." Barry turned away. Caitlin reached up and turned his chin so he was looking her in the eye. "Barry… I know Speed Demon took Ben from us, but I don't know… I've just got this feeling that we will see him again."

"How can you say that?" Barry asked confused.

Caitlin took his hand and brought it to her stomach. "Because I choose to believe Ben is still here with us." She paused for a moment before continuing. "That's how I'm coping. I know one day we'll get to see Ben again, just not right now, probably by August or September. And this time we'll get to see him grow up."

Barry smiled and chuckled. "It sounds crazy… hell it even sounds down right impossible."

"Well, to quote a very handsome man I love: 'Impossible is just another Tuesday for us.'"

"He sounds smart, should I be jealous?"

"Nah…" Caitlin smiled as Barry leaned over to rest his head on her chest. Gently Caitlin stroked Barry's brown locks with her right hand while their left hands intertwined.

They sat in more silence before Barry spoke again. "Can I just say I am not looking forward to being replaced as your number one guy?"

"Come here, and I'll show you why you're MY number one guy." Taking his hands in her own Caitlin led Barry towards their bedroom.

"Wait… Is this even safe? For the baby I mean." Caitlin rolled her eyes.

"Shut up and kiss me Barry."

An hour later Barry and Caitlin laid in their bed tangled in their sheets. Caitlin had fallen asleep but Barry was still awake.

Gently Barry reached over and lightly stroked Caitlin's belly which made Caitlin unconsciously smile which made Barry smile a bit, early into their relationship Barry discovered Caitlin was rather ticklish it generally brightened his day just a little bit. "Hey there buddy…" He whispered. What was he supposed to say? Caitlin was so early in the pregnancy their baby shouldn't be able to hear, right? Was the baby even Ben?

"It's me… your daddy…" He rubbed circles on her stomach using his thumb. "I'm not sure what I'm supposed to say to you… I'm not even sure you can hear me yet… but I want you to know that I love you… I love you, I love your mommy… I love you both so much. It's just bad things tend to happen to the people I love… I just…" Barry looked away for a moment and fought back his tears. "I just want you to know that I'd do anything to protect you and your mother."

Barry didn't notice Caitlin's eyes open slightly as she listened to Barry talk to their unborn child.

"No matter what the future holds… but I cannot wait to meet you again." Barry felt Caitlin's hand stroking his hair. "Sorry if I woke you Cait."

"It's fine Barry… I wasn't really sleeping either."

Barry turned so that he was looking into Caitlin's eyes."You should get back to sleep."

"Fine" Caitlin grabbed a chunk of the sheets and wrapped herself in them, leaving Barry with very little.

"Cait… I promise, I won't let anything happen to you, or our baby." Barry leaned in and kissed Caitlin's stomach making the bio-engineer chuckle. "No one will hurt either of you, I promise." He planted a gentle kiss on her lips before laying down next to he and allowing himself to drift into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

This is the end of the chapter

Please tell me what you liked, didn't like, look forward to/think will happen, or your general thoughts and comments, this will help me make the story better; I'm a big boy so I can take criticism. And if you Review you get a Shout Out and questions answered either privately or in the next chapter.

Please share this with everyone you can via whatever platform of social media you want. I would love it if the whole fandom got to enjoy this story and not just the one on fanfiction.

Have a Fantastic day


	26. Déjà vu

**Disclaimer:** The following is a nonprofit Fan based story; The FLASH and all related characters are owned by DC comics, the CW and anyone I may have missed.

Like I always seem to say to the point of redundancy (doesn't mean it's any less true) I love everyone who Reviews, Favorites and or Follows any of my stories. Again, if I didn't respond I apologize and just let me know.

Reviews: **CallMeMiles, psychlover95, wilsonenmanual43, Eliley** and **changingdestiny40**

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OK a couple of things before he dive on in. First I started another new job a week ago so I am once again trying to find my groove with writing, working and staying as up to date as possible on all Arrowverse (plus a couple of other) Shows. And second, well, I honestly don't have anything for my second point just that if I am good, like really really good I might be able to start cranking out chapters quicker, actually I may just crank out shorter chapters, means I can have more frequent shocking cliffhangers.

I hope you all enjoy this chapter. and I hope everyone also has a wonderful Thanksgiving with their families.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

* * *

 _The Flash: Survival of the Fastest_

Chapter 25: Déjà vu

* * *

 **February 4 2018**

 **Iron heights Prison**

Caitlin's heels echoed on the cold floors as she made her way down the familiar hallway towards her mother's cell. Today was looking to be a really good day. Not only had she decided to finally tell her mother she and Barry were getting married and that they already were expecting a baby Caitlin was in high spirits because she might have discovered a potential cure for her mother's condition.

"Hi mom." Caitlin greeted through the phone as she sat down across from the glass.

"Hi sweetheart. How are you doing?"

"I'm doing good." Caitlin said offering her mother a warm smile. "You see, uh… remember how I told you I have a boyfriend?"

"How could I forget? You talk about him with a smile I haven't seen on your face since your father passed."

"Well," Caitlin held up her hand so he mother could see the ring.

They both wished the glass wasn't there so mother and daughter could embrace. "Caitlin… I am so happy for you."

"Hearing you say that… it means a lot mom." Caitlin could feel the tears welling up in her eyes.

"When's the wedding?"

"We're planning for June." Caitlin said, "Mom, there's something else I need to tell you."

Carla looked at her daughter. "You're pregnant." She stated the fact as if it were obvious which shocked Caitlin.

"How'd you know?"

"Caitlin, this Cell only prevents me from using my powers to get out. It doesn't shut them off. Because of that I can see the heat signature coming off of your stomach." Carla smiled. "It's like a tiny sun." Caitlin felt herself smile. "Caitlin… I don't mean to sound inconsiderate or upset but… are you getting married because-"

"What!? No! No, mom." Caitlin read the question early and answered accordingly. "Barry proposed to me months ago, before I got pregnant."

Carla sighed slightly. "Well, I'm just glad you are happy Caitlin."

"Thanks mom, and don't worry if everything goes well you should be able to be there for the wedding."

That intrigued Carla. "Caitlin, you know I won't allow myself to be released. I don't want to hurt anyone."

Caitlin shook her head. "I'm close mom. I'm close to being able to reverse what happened to you. We can start to be a real family again. You, me, Barry, your grandson-"

"Grandson? You already know the gender?"

"No, just something in my gut tells me he'll be a little boy." Caitlin said resting her hand on her stomach.

* * *

 **S.T.A.R. Labs Cortex**

Once she was finished visiting her mother Caitlin made her way back to her car and drove towards S.T.A.R. Labs. Cisco had texted everyone this morning calling everyone together for an important gathering. Caitlin informed her friend she was visiting her mother that morning so he'd have to push it back a little, which Cisco allowed. When she finally arrived in the cortex she saw that almost the entirety of Team Flash was present. Only Iris was not there.

She made her way over to Barry and was greeted with a soft kiss on the lips. "Where's Iris?" She asked Eddie.

"I don't know." He replied truthfully. "I haven't heard from her since last night when she told me she was going to be working late. She texted me not too long ago saying she's coming over shortly and to start whatever this is without her."

Cisco cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. "OK, since Iris gave the OK for us to start I would like to direct your attention this way." Cisco led the team towards a large white sheet covering what was clearly a box shape.

"Cisco? What is that?" Barry asked as Caitlin stood by her side.

"This… this is a small tribute I've been working on. I know, we are all still grieving Ben's loss." Cisco said looking over to Barry and Caitlin specifically. "But we should still honor a fallen member of Team Flash." Cisco reached up and removed the white cloth revealing a large display case.

Inside the case was Ben's original suit, fully intact set up on the manikin. Caitlin felt her heart skip a beat at the sight of their son's suit.

"I figured since his Godspeed suit is also gone it would be fitting to immortalize his original suit."

Caitlin turned to Cisco with the Bio-engineer embracing her best friend in a tight hug. "Thank you, Cisco."

"My pleasure Caitlin."

Barry just turned to the suit and couldn't help but smile. The crimson colored jacket, navy blue pants with lightning patterns running up the outside of his legs and boots were all pristine with no signs of wear or tear. Around the head of the manikin the red and yellow scarf wrapped around the lower head along with the goggles resting on the forehead were perfect.

Satisfied with the memorial to his son Barry turned to the rest of the team. "We may have lost Ben, but he would still want us working to keep this City safe from those who wish to bring it harm. We are going to find Speed Demon, and stop him. We owe Ben that much."

Every one shared a smile and were about to get back to what they needed to do when Iris entered into the Cortex

"Um… guys…" She got everyone's attention.

"Hey babe." Eddie went over to greet his wife but something was off when he kissed her. "Iris? What's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing Eddie… it's just… well…" Iris looked at the floor before looking up to look Barry in the eyes. "You all need to see this…"

There were two whooshes each accompanied by a flash of purple or indigo colored lightning. Everyone was stunned and n guard immediately as two speedsters appeared right in front of Team Flash.

"Iris!?" Barry questioned "What the hell is this?"

"Hi." The girl said quietly as she stepped forward towards Barry. "My name is Dawn and this" She gestured to her brother. "is my brother, Don."

"That still doesn't explain who you guys are." Cisco spoke up cautiously.

"We're Barry and Iris' children." Don answered shocking everyone present, excluding Iris.

If Barry's jaw could stretch it would have hit the floor in shock. Too many emotions were now running through his head and the one that was starting to show was the one he didn't want to come out; anger.

"What!?" He exploded garnering the twins to jump back in surprise. It wasn't just them who jumped back, Caitlin did as well. Barry's anger dropped a little when he looked at Iris. "Iris…" He made a slight gesture for her to follow him into the hallway away from prying ears.

* * *

 **Hallway**

When they were out of earshot Iris finally spoke. "I… I'm sorry Barry…" Iris felt like she was going to cry. All she wanted to do was help and Dawn and Don were offering it. Was she skeptical of them? A little, but they had gotten to know her before springing on this revelation. "They… they told me last night…"

"And you believe them?" Barry asked. Iris silently nodded and Barry sighed, he couldn't stay mad at Iris, she didn't deserve it. He rubbed his hand through his hair in frustration. "I'm sorry… but we've already been through this before…"

"I know Barry… and I know the timing couldn't be worse…"

"Yeah…" Barry looked to the floor.

"Look Barry… I'm not trying to use them to undermine your life with Caitlin or my relationship with Eddie. And I don't think that's their intention."

"Then why are they here?" Barry asked skeptically.

"I don't know." Iris answered truthfully. "Derick and Daph… I mean Don and Dawn… wouldn't tell me why they came here, they said they honestly couldn't tell anyone because it would threaten the Time Line."

"You think we can trust them?"

"I don't think we have much of a choice Barry… they've been trying to stop something for a long while now… They have no reason to lie to us Barry."

* * *

 **Cortex**

"You guys have been here for months and not once revealed yourselves?" Cisco asked. "Why not? We could totally help you guys."

"Believe us Uncle Cisco we wanted to tell you guys everything but speedsters who mess with time willy-nilly tend to get hunted by Time Wraiths or something worse." Dawn answered.

Everyone exchanged looks, they all know what the twins were talking about.

"That's right, if you are going to travel through time and eventually return you need to leave as little impact on the time line as possible." Don jumped in. "That's why we assumed alternate identities."

"Yeah but, isn't the future, you know, not set in stone?" Wally asked.

"Time Travel is still a right pain in the ass." Don shook his head as he spoke. "My sister and I are from the most probable future, which means the way things are now, our present will be your future. It's kind of a long story on how we got here."

"Well, we've got time." Cisco pointed out.

"OK… it all starts in about six years, when Savitar escapes from the Speed Force…" Don began.

Cisco, Wally, Joe Eddie and Caitlin listened to the story the Twins told. Apparently in six years Savitar somehow escapes from the Speed Force and murders Iris in front of Barry just as he promised apparently it didn't matter when or where he killed Iris so long as Barry was there to witness it. It devastated Barry leaving him as not only a widower but also a single parent to twins.

Over the next four years Savitar would harass The Team with his cult and his faithful second; Killer Frost. No one could stop him. Until after four long years Barry finally managed to defeated Savitar.

"Savitar said something to our dad before he died… we don't know what but it shook him to the core." Dawn said.

By this time Barry and Iris had returned to the Cortex listening to the whole story, their eyes still fixed on Dawn and Don. Neither one knew what to believe, and Iris certainly didn't try to stop Barry as he made his was to stand beside a clearly agitated Caitlin.

"After that… you were never the same Dad…" Don continued as he watched their Father standing next to Dr. Snow.

"How so?" The Flash asked.

"You became reclusive… and, I hate to say it… but you kind of stopped being our dad…" Don said sadly. "Uncle Wally, Grandpa and Grandma had to step in to raise us." He noticed Barry's shocked reaction, he also noticed how his father's hands intertwined with the woman's next to him. Seeing his father with another woman was truly upsetting for Don, granted a lot can happen in six years.

Barry couldn't find any words to properly express his emotions. After Iris' death Barry failed to be a father to their kids. This made him think about Caitlin and their unborn child, would that happen to him if something happens to Caitlin? No. he shook his head trying to throw away those thoughts. He promised her nothing bad was going to happen to either of them. He wouldn't allow it.

"We're not trying to say you were a bad parent." Dawn saw her father and mother's expressions and desperately tried to reassure him. "You were still there for us… just not as much as we hoped, and I totally understand why, you had been through hell. My idiot brother just put it too harshly."

"Dawn, what happened after Barry defeated Savitar?" Iris could tell the whole situation was becoming more and more uncomfortable by the minute they had to steer the twins back into their depressing story. Iris couldn't bring herself to even look Eddie's way who knew what her husband was thinking.

"Well, like we said… Dad kind of shut himself away. He even gave up being The Flash."

"What!?" Caitlin found herself practically yelling in shock. How could Barry give up being the Flash? Everyone seemed to turn to her and Caitlin felt herself shrink back a little. Barry gently placed a hand onto her shoulder.

"What happens in your time isn't our concern." Barry said seriously. Don and Dawn wanted to object but their Father's tone drowned their potential arguments. "Tell us why you are here and how we can help."

Don and Dawn exchanged looks and sighed. If they didn't come clean now they were never going to convince Team Flash to help them. "There's no point in hiding it now." Dawn said to her brother.

"We were going to come back to try and prevent our future from happening. A lot of our friends and family have either disappeared or they have been killed." Barry and Iris' daughter said. "To accomplish our goal, we need to find Godspeed." That shocked everyone. What could Don and Dawn possibly want with Godspeed.

"I'm sorry." Cisco was trying to stifle a laugh. "I thought I heard you say you were after Godspeed."

"We did." Don said seriously.

"Why are you after August?" Joe asked still trying to wrap his head around everything.

"You guys know him?" Don asked shocked. "More importantly you guys know who he is under the mask!?"

The entirety of team Flash exchanged more confused looks. Somethings just weren't adding up. and now it was like everyone was starting to see some cracks forming.

"What my brother is trying to say is we've been looking for Godspeed for a long time. He's the one who freed Savitar from his prison so in a way he's the one who killed our mom." Dawn said looking at Iris somberly.

"And he directly killed our dad…" Don added. Everyone slightly shifted their gazes to catch a glimpse of Barry and Iris' reactions. "He follows the same pattern everywhere he goes."

"Like a creature of habit." Eddie answered begrudgingly.

Dawn offered Eddie a smile. "Exactly like a creature of habit. Once Godspeed arrives either in another timeline or on another reality he inserts himself into the life of that world's fastest speedster. We're not sure how but he somehow alters an individual's perception of their own personal time line inserting or removing himself anywhere he pleases."

"But there's no way August can free Savitar from the Speed Force, right? Not without the Philosopher's stone." Iris asked.

Don and Dawn nodded their heads. "As long as the Philosopher's Stone is incomplete Savitar can never escape. Does anyone know where it is?"

"I tossed the final piece of the Philosopher's Stone into a Breach with no specific destination." Cisco said not wanting anyone to know he secretly kept it. "I don't even know where the final piece is. It could have ended up on this Earth for all we know."

"That's good but I'd prefer knowing it was truly gone for good." Don said

"And how do you propose that? We determined The Philosopher's Stone can't be destroyed." Eddie said under his breath

"You're right, it can't be destroyed." Dawn answered. "but it can be turned back into energy."

"What do you mean?" Joe asked confused.

"The stone is made of Calcified Speed Force." Dawn answered while the rest of Team Flash offered her blank expressions.

"Calcified Speed Force? What the Hell is that? It sounds like some made up bullshit." Eddie voiced his annoyance and frustration.

"A better way to describe it is as an ingot of concentrated Speed Force Energy." Don quickly added. "Think of it as a solid version of the Speed Force."

"Still doesn't make any sense." Caitlin muttered.

"Either way, Cisco can you pull it back?" Dawn asked.

Cisco shrugged. "I can certainly try." Vibe knew this was going to be easy for him to retrieve the stone fragment so he was going to have to make it a little convincing.

* * *

 **2044**

 **Central City, Abandoned Building**

Speed Demon looked down at the tiny stone fragment sitting in his left hand. It took quite a bit of effort but he had managed to retrieve the stone fragment from Dr. Maru. There wasn't much left for Speed Demon to do with the small stone. Things needed to happen a certain way and this tiny stone seemed to be the crux of some major events.

* * *

 **June 2019**

 **Hidden Laboratory**

 _After taking the stone from Dr. Maru, Speed Demon used it to travel to a specific location in 2019, a laboratory hidden somewhere in Central City. It was a place Speed Demon knew little of only that he and Godspeed shared a connection to this place. The events which were about to unfold needed to happen this way._

 _The world around him slowed to a stop, Speed Demon began to run until he began to open a way into the Speed Force, he had to release its prisoner._

 _With all his might he jumped into the wormhole and a moment later he came out dragging a massive clunk of metal in the vague shape of a man. Within moments Speed Demon and Savitar were surrounded by soldiers wearing black combat suits armed with futuristic guns. But neither seemed to care._

" _ **I am Free**_ _!" The God of Speed declared as he returned to his feet. He looked at all the men surrounding him. "_ _ **Bow before your god**_ _." The men only aimed their guns and a moment later they were all dead due to high speed impact or impalement. Savitar turned to the black clad Speedster still in his presence. "_ _ **Who are you**_ _?"_

 _Speed Demon didn't reply. Merely he moved towards a nearby room, which was actually more like a cell. He motioned for Savitar to follow as he opened the cell door revealing the person inside. Immediately Savitar dropped to one knee and allowed his suit to open as his true image of a fallen Barry Allen emerged._

 _As Savitar walked past him Speed Demon allowed his black suit to fall away and his flames to die unveiling his true form._

" _Who? Who are you? And why do I feel like I know you?" Barry's evil Time Remnant stopped in his tracks and asked._

" _It doesn't matter who I am." Speed Demon said "What matters is that you now owe me a favor."_

 _Savitar chuckled as if Speed Demon had just told him a joke. "The God of Speed owes no favors to anyone."_

" _Well you know what they say Savitar, a deal's a deal, especially one with the devil." Speed Demon said._

 _The god of speed couldn't stop himself from laughing. "Very well, I'll humor you. What do I owe you?"_

" _It's simple really, take her" Speed Demon gestured to the woman in the cell. "And leave."_

" _Leave?"_

" _Go anywhere, any when." Speed Demon took a few steps towards Savitar. "You now have what you have long sought; freedom."_

" _Freedom to do as I please." Savitar glanced back at the woman in the cell._

" _For the most part." Speed Demon said "but know this God of Speed, if you break our deal, you going to wish you were back in that Hell within the Speed Force." With those words Speed Demon morphed back into his suit and vanished in a flurry of black lightning._

* * *

 **2044**

Initially Savitar had kept to their bargain. After Speed Demon left Savitar freed the woman in the cell and proceeded to lay waste to what remained of the lab. Despite knowing exactly what Savitar would do, Speed Demon made no move to prevent it and it weighed heavily on him though not as much as it used to.

 _It's naïve to think you can save everyone. People Die._

It was one of the many philosophies he lived by per say. And even though he knew where Savitar's path was going he did nothing to stop it because of his other philosophy;

 _Karma is a bitch._

Savitar got what was coming to him.

" _Thinking of Savitar again?"_ The voice in his head spoke.

Speed Demon rolled his eyes. "I get it. You think we should have killed him instead of freeing him from the Speed Force." A black spectral figure formed in front of Speed Demon with a scowl plastered on his decaying face.

" _You should have killed him."_

"I gave him the chance to forge his own path like we give every other Speedster."

" _Your insistence that we give everyone a chance cost us both dearly. How many more injustices must you allow to happen?"_

* * *

 **Present Day**

 **S.T.A.R. Labs Speed Lab**

The Team plus Dawn and Don were gathered in the Speed Lab while Cisco attempted to open a breach to 'retrieve' the Philosopher's Stone fragment. It was rather odd, At first Cisco opened a few 'wrong' portals to try and be convincing eventually Cisco opened a breach into his drawer and took the stone.

"Got it!" triumphantly Cisco held up the stone. Quickly he handed it to Barry who, after a moment of hesitation handed it to Dawn.

Barry and Iris' daughter held the stone fragment tightly bringing it close to her chest. Her eyes suddenly snapped into focus and she looked up at team Flash

"This isn't the stone."

"What?" Cisco had to voice his disbelieve while everyone else silently voiced their shock. "That's impossible. The Philosopher's stone is one of a kind right?"

"The stone is made of solid Speed Force." Don explained. "If this were the real thing We could feel the power radiating off of it." he gestured to himself, his sister and Barry when he said we.

"I've never felt anything from the stone." Barry said. "And neither has Caitlin nor Eddie." He looked to them and they both shook their heads to agree with him. Both Dawn and Don looked at the other two speedsters seemingly confused why Barry was addressing Eddie and Caitlin.

"Either way, this is not the stone." Dawn let the stone fall from her hands and to the floor. When it hit it broke into multiple pieces.

Silence filled the room until Iris found her voice. "If that wasn't the real stone, where is it?"

"Worst case scenario already on it's way back to Savitar, mom." Don said

Dawn shot an annoyed look at her brother. "What he means to say is, If Cisco cannot locate it with his powers it has been taken to a different time."

"This is crazy." Cisco shook his head in disbelief.

"We have to find that stone Dawn."

"We don't even know where to start looking. Besides it is too late."

"So what are you two planning to do now?" Barry asked

"Honestly, we have no clue." Dawn began but Don cut her off. "We were planning to come back to the past, grab the stone and get back to our time with minimal interactions with any of you."

"Then why the charade?" Iris asked this time. "Why spend months as Derrick and Daphne North?"

The twins exchanged looks. "Normally with time travel it is imperative you don't alter anything too drastically, and the best way to do that is to create a faux identity. plus we found out we were not the only ones to come to the past. Someone else followed us." Dawn spoke. "In fact it is very lickely he's the one who stole the stone.

"Who?" Barry asked

"A speedster known as Godspeed." Don spoke. "Also known as the Heir of Savitar."

"August!?" Eddie questioned aloud. "You guys claim August Heart is not only from the future but also the 'heir' to that maniac Savitar?"

"August?! You guys know who he really is?" Don asked surprised.

"You don't?" Iris replied.

"No, and if any of you knew who he really was you never mentioned it to us." Dawn looked at Barry, Iris, Joe and Cisco.

"What has you so convinced Godspeed is a bad guy?" Joe asked speaking up for the first time in a long while.

"He's a nut job."

"Like we said he's known as the Heir of Savitar. Everything he did was in service to the God of Speed. It wouldn't surprise me if he got his filthy hands on the philosopher's stone and returned it to that monster." Dawn grumbled. "He's killed a lot of people. He and his master ruined our entire family."

"I don't believe you." Caitlin said. The twins turned towards her anger flaring in their eyes but Caitlin met them with a much more ferocious fire in her eyes. "August is our friend. He helped us protect this city when Barry was seriously injured. Ben even vouched for him." Caitlin argued. "And when he left for Coast City he gave Ben his suit and name when he left."

"OK, everyone keeps mentioning a Ben. Who the hell is Ben?" Don asked. he had heard the name Ben dropped multiple times today. Robin and Bobby had mentioned it as well when they all met up a week ago.

"Our son." Caitlin fired back slightly angry as she stepped a little closer to Barry. She felt her fiancé place a calming hand on her shoulder. It wasn't working as Caitlin's anger seemed to keep climbing. "That suit on display in the Cortex, that's his."

Don and Dawn shared even more confused looks before looking to the familiar members of Team Flash for further clarification eventually getting it from Iris.

"Ben was another speedster from the future, not unlike you two. He was Caitlin and Barry's son."

"That's impossible." Don shook his head in disbelief.

"I don't know where you got his suit but, it's nice that you guys are honoring Charlie, though he never wore those goggles or that scarf." Dawn smiled civily though it garnered confused looks from everyone.

"Charlie? Who the hell is Charlie?" Cisco asked

"A friend of ours." Don answered. "After dad lost…" He trailed off almost revealing certain events. "I'm sorry… uh, basically Charlie was dad's last protégé, and like a big brother to us."

Dawn picked up where her brother left off. "Charlie was… different to say the least… but a good person through and through"

"You're talking about him like he's dead." Barry noted

"Because he is…" Dawn added sadly. Her tone sounded familiar to Caitlin, it reminded her of how she was after Ronnie 'died' in the Particle Accelerator Explosion. Dawn was close to this Charlie.

Caitlin could feel herself swelling with sympathy. Thanks to the baby in her stomach her hormones and emotions were not balanced at all. "We don't know who this Charlie is, but that's not his suit. That suit belongs to mine and Barry's son, Ben."

"She's right." Barry said taking Caitlin's hand in his to emphasize who was Ben's mother. "His name is Benjamin Joseph Allen!"

"What?" Don asked. "Dad, there is no Benjamin Joseph Allen! There never has and never will be!"

* * *

This is the end of the chapter

Please tell me what you liked, didn't like, look forward to/think will happen, or your general thoughts and comments, this will help me make the story better; I'm a big boy so I can take criticism. And if you Review you get a Shout Out and questions answered either privately or in the next chapter.

Please share this with everyone you can via whatever platform of social media you want. I would love it if the whole fandom got to enjoy this story and not just the one on fanfiction.

Have a Fantastic day


	27. The Heir of Savitar

**Disclaimer:** The following is a nonprofit Fan based story; The FLASH and all related characters are owned by DC comics, the CW and anyone I may have missed.

Like I always seem to say to the point of redundancy (doesn't mean it's any less true) I love everyone who Reviews, Favorites and or Follows any of my stories. Again, if I didn't respond I apologize and just let me know.

Reviews: **CallMeMiles, Eliley, XWF1000, wilsonenmanual43, abby3387, Killer Cold Hearts, Guest, Alex,** and **changingdestiny40**

Guest: Thanks for the compliment.

Alex: Thanks for pointing out my typos. I'll see about going back to correct them

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This chapter might not be as long as I intended and it might not have covered all the things I wanted, but I think it covered enough for us to begin moving into the climax of the story. I lost count of how many times I've said that but I believe it is true this time.

Well, on that note, another year has come and gone. I hope everyone out there has had, or is having, a wonderful holiday season. Not much else for me to say except that I hope to see you all in the new year. Please be safe.

* * *

 _The Flash: Survival of the Fastest_

Chapter 26: The Heir of Savitar

* * *

 **August 23 2020**

 **Coast City Memorial Hospital**

A horrific storm raged the city for the last several hours. According to the local weather stations it had come completely out of nowhere. Everyone was now expecting heavy damage and record rainfalls, but that did not sway the people of Coast City from continuing to live their lives, they were after all, _The City Without Fear_. Lightning was constantly flashing and thunder boomed viciously while near hurricane force winds played havoc with the woefully unprepared City.

Inside the hospital a man stood by his wife as they were surrounded by doctors.

"One more push!" The doctor ordered.

The woman bit her lip hard drawing a bit of blood while simultaneously gripping the hand of the man beside her so tight she might have accidentally broken the bones in his hand. She curled forward and screamed as her body was racked by an intense pressure before it released. And the shrill cry of a newborn filled the room.

In that very moment, when the baby screamed, Lightning roared louder than before and fell upon the city like the wrath of heaven. Explosions rocked the city as buildings, cars and even people were stuck by the lightning. One bolt of lightning struck one of the substations resulting in half the city being plunged into darkness. A fraction of a second later another bolt of lighting struck the very same substation recharging everything and bringing light back to the city.

At the same time, just as mysteriously as it had arrived the storm was suddenly gone, leaving one the damaged city behind.

"You did it Frost." The man whispered before kissing her forehead. "Our child is here."

Frost smiled, genuinely smiled. Thing had been rough over the last year, but Savitar had gotten her though it. And he even gave her a child. They truly were living a free life. Of course, when they checked in to the hospital they had to use their new identities.

Savitar, took the name Henry Heart as a new public identity. Killer Frost on the other hand, it was easier to forge a new identity for her since she needed one, so she became Catherine Heart Née Frost, his wife.

"Yes, congratulations to the both of you." The Doctor said as he held out a small baby wrapped in a blue swaddle. "You are both the proud parents of a healthy baby boy."

Savitar and Killer Frost's faces lit up with such happiness, something neither had felt in such a long time. "Hey there buddy." Savitar used his finger to gently stroke the baby before the baby grabbed the God of Speed's hand. It was as if magic but the tiny baby in their arms was slowly bringing out the people Savitar and Killer Frost were so long ago.

"Have you two decided on a name for him?" The Doctor asked.

Savitar and Frost exchanged looks. They had not decided on a name. They honestly wanted to be surprised by the gender so they had a list of names, but no set one. "Uh, we don't have one picked out yet." Savitar spoke.

"That's fine Henry. There are many youg couples who have their children prior to picking out a name. I'm sure when the time is right you will know. In the meantime, I suggest we allow Catherine to get some well-deserved rest. Henry, you're welcome to come with us while we carry out our standard procedures."

Savitar was quiet for a moment before shaking his head. "Thank you, doctor, but I think I'll be staying with my wife for a little while. I'll catch up in a minute."

Moments later Savitar and Killer Frost were left alone in her room. Gently the fallen Barry Allen stroked Frost's hand. He had missed her so much. For what could only be equated to an eternity he had believed her to be dead. Never in his wildest dreams did he believe she was alive.

"Hey…" She said to her husband weakly.

"Shhhhh… get some rest." Savitar cooed. "You've earned it after everything."

Frost smiled as she nestled herself against the pillow. "Any thoughts about his name?"

Savitar sighed. "I've actually been thinking about that." He leaned in and whispered the name into her ear, prompting a smile to slip onto her face.

"That's perfect."

* * *

 **Present Day**

 **Central City, S.T.A.R. Labs**

Caitlin's heels clicked aggressively as she stormed down the corridor out of the Speed Lab and towards her personal sanctuary. She didn't know if she could not hear Barry calling out her name as he followed her or if she was outright ignoring him. Either way she was having a difficult time holding her composure as hot tears fell from her eyes.

Hearing Don and Dawn say Ben does not exist hurt, more than she'd care to admit. She wanted to scream at the offspring of Barry and Iris, telling them they were lying because Ben did exist, they got to know him, laugh with him, love him and mourn him, and in the end, he was still with them because he was growing in Caitlin's uterus. She somehow managed to hold her tongue and instead of releasing her fury she fled.

"Caitlin! Wait! Please!" Barry used a sudden burst of speed to close the distance between himself and Caitlin before he could give his fiancé the chance to use her speed to run away. He gently grabbed her shoulders and spun her around so that he could look into her eyes. "Just stop running. Please… for once don't run away…"

"I can't do it Barry…" Barry gently lifted her chin as Caitlin tried to look to the floor. "I can't be in the same room as you kids. Not after what Don just said…"

"Hey… Cait… ignore them…"

"But… they're from the future… and if that's true then you and Iris will be together. And I'll… I'll be all alone. I don't want to be alone Barry…"

"Cait… listen to me. You are not going to be alone. You'll always have me, and Ben." He said glancing down at her stomach. "I know what they said about Ben never existing is painful but it's irrelevant because he's right here." Barry placed a hand on her stomach. "He's here, and never going anywhere."

"I know that Barry… it still doesn't change how much it hurts. It's like we are alone against the universe."

"Well, maybe we shouldn't be concerned with the future. Maybe we should focus on the present, or rather we should focus on our future together."

Caitlin sighed with a small smile. "Didn't I tell you that Barry?"

Barry chuckled back. "For the life of me I can't remember. But let's just say you did." He leaned forward and planted a kiss.

"Come on. Let's head back to the others."

* * *

 **Speed Lab**

"What was that about?" Don asked but he was promptly struck upside the head by Dawn. "What the hell was that for?"

"You, inconsiderate jerk!"

"What? What did I say?"

"You just made Caitlin upset." Cisco answered. "And in turn you upset Barry." Don looked at Team Flash confused.

"Caitlin is Barry's fiancé." Iris said. The reporter within Iris noticed how Dawn and Don seemed slightly upset by those words. "And you just told them, their son, who all of us got to know and love, is not real."

"Because he isn't real. My sister and I have never heard of a Benjamin Joseph Allen prior to today." Don Continued. "In fact, we've never heard of a Dr. Caitlin Snow. Not before coming to this Time."

"So now you're saying Caitlin doesn't exist where you guys are from?" Cisco folded his arms across his chest. He was trying to remain neutral throughout the whole situation, but Don seemed to emotionally attack his best friend at every turn since he arrived.

"What my idiot brother is trying to say is… well… we are not sure." Dawn quickly attempted to diffuse the confrontation. "Time travel is… complicated to say the least."

"Yeah we know that part." Cisco could feel the headache coming on whenever time travel was involved. "But if you guys are from the Future, which involves all of us, then there is no way Caitlin shouldn't exist."

"Look, we never said she doesn't exist, it's just no one has ever mentioned her." Dawn said. "I know none of you can answer this but, if it is true that she's dad's fiancé why did we never hear about her nor did we see any pictures. It's almost like someone went out of their way to wipe Dr. Caitlin Snow from history."

"Got to admit, with that temper, and that face, she is nearly a dead ringer for Killer Frost." Everyone turned to Don. He was talking like a crazy person. Sure, there was Earth-2 Killer Frost, who was Caitlin, but calling Caitlin a dead ringer for Killer Frost was a little disturbing.

"Killer Frost is Caitlin's mother." Iris said. "Savitar and Dr. Alchemy activated the meta-human gene within Carla Tanhauser turning her into Killer Frost."

"Damn…" Don said as he glanced down the hallway where Caitlin had stormed off. "Now I feel really bad…" His voice trailed off as Barry reentered the room hand in hand with Caitlin. "Um… look Ca… Dr. Snow. I'm sorry about what I said earlier… it's just weird you know? Seeing dad with someone who isn't mom."

"Apology accepted." Caitlin said gently. Deep down she knew there was no point in being mad with Don and Dawn. "Maybe I over reacted a little. Things have been… difficult lately."

Barry gently stroked the back of Caitlin's hand before looking to the twins. "What you said Earlier, about August working for Savitar, is it true?"

"Uh, yes. At least we think so." Don turned to his sister to take it from there.

"Like we said earlier, we didn't know who Godspeed really was. But now that we do, we can get the drop on him."

"And the best part is he doesn't know we know." Don smirked.

"So, all we have to do is find him and get the stone back before he uses it to free Savitar, easy." Wally said.

"If only. Godspeed is one of the fastest speedsters ever." Dawn lowered her head slightly. "He's a monster, incapable of empathy and sympathy. Savitar, Zoom and even Thawne have all shown some level of those emotions."

"Great so he's is a psychopath with super speed." Cisco groaned.

"Yeah, but why?" Barry asked "What reason does Godspeed have for working for Savitar? What does he get out of it?"

"Savitar must have promised Godspeed something or at least fed him delusions of grandeur." Dawn said. "We're not really sure what Godspeed gains or even why he joined."

"Savitar saw his potential and sought to recruit him before he could become a true rival." Don added. "After his recruitment Savitar planted Godspeed into the team as a spy."

Everyone exchanged curious looks. August had joined their team, briefly, but he still joined. Was he truly reporting everything to Savitar? Was Team Flash's greatest enemy plotting his revenge.

"OK this is just getting confusing." Cisco spoke for everyone as he rubbed his temples in frustration. "So, you guys are saying August infiltrated the team under Savitar's orders to obtain the Philosopher's stone in order to free Savitar?"

"I guess." Dawn said. "In all honesty Godspeed joins the team in…18…19…20…21…22…" She started saying numbers while counting on her fingers until she reached the number she was looking for. "32, Godspeed joined the team in 2032."

"That would mean he would be roughly forty years old." Caitlin spoke after quickly doing the math out in her head. "He's only… actually does anyone know how old August is?" She asked the rest of the team but they could only reply with shaking their heads.

"I don't think any of us even know his birthday." Eddie said.

"It is impossible for August to be forty, because I distinctly remember celebrating three of his birthdays. His 28th, his 29th and his 30th birthdays." Don said.

"So, he's a time traveler like you guys." Iris made a statement rather than a question before turning to Barry and Caitlin. "That kind of reminds me of something Ben told us… or rather something I briefly talked to him about."

"Wha-?" Barry started to ask his childhood best friend but she cut him off by continuing her story.

"I've always kind of thought it was weird how everyone was so willing to accept August into the team… especially since Ben was the one who warned us about him. Then one night after calling in everyone we knew you all went after Godspeed while he was fighting Speed Demon and suddenly no one can remember Godspeed, its almost like he was completely erased from your memories. When I asked Ben about it he said it was always Lightspeed he was after, not Godspeed."

Everyone listened to each and every word Iris said. There was suddenly a noticeable discrepancy in their memories Nothing was making any sense anymore, even with Ben's flimsy explanations. While team flash contemplated on the thought that everything might not be what it seemed the Tornado Twins latched onto two words Iris had mentioned in passing; Speed Demon.

"Wait? Ben mentioned he was after Godspeed when he first arrived? Why don't I remember that?" Barry asked turning from Iris to Caitlin looking for some clarification.

"I'm just as confused as you Barry."

"Actually, this whole fiasco reminds me of what was happening to Oliver and his friends, only… they couldn't remember anything." Cisco said. "It's almost like everyone got their minds selectively wiped by a neuralyzer."

Dawn and Don shot confused looks not knowing what a neuralyzer was. "It's from the Men in Black series." Wally explained to his future niece and nephew. "Selectively wipes people's memories and allows the user to create new ones to explain away potential gaps."

"Someone's been messing with our memories?" Caitlin asked sounding frightful. Barry gently began to stroke the back of her hand. "If that's the case, how much has been altered?"

Don and Dawn exchanged looks. If someone was messing with the Memories it would explain the oddities they were witnessing, specifically how their dad wasn't together with their mom. As much as they wanted to believe it there was no way of knowing what was true and they couldn't force events to occur. They needed to change the topic before Team Flash tore itself apart because they simply didn't know if they could truly trust one another.

"Mom, you mentioned Speed Demon?" Dawn asked. Despite her best efforts her voice carried a tiny quiver in it. She was afraid of Speed Demon.

"Ben…mentioned Speed Demon on multiple occasions. We've only seen him a few times." Iris thought about how Speed Demon saved her that one time, not really something she knew how to bring up.

"Do you guys know something about him?" Barry asked with a hint of anger.

Dawn shook her head before Don answered. "Not much. We only first heard about him from the rumors."

"Rumors?" Caitlin asked. "What kind of rumors?" Caitlin subtly placed a hand on her stomach as if shielding the tiny child growing inside of her from the horrors of Speed Demon.

"Well, rumors that first began to spring up here and there throughout the multiverse. Talking about a speedster who was impossibly fast and has an insatiable desire to take the speed of others. Even other meta-humans and criminals only spoke about him in whispers. He looked like a man, but moved like a ghost and fought like a devil."

"They say once he started chasing you there was no escape." Dawn added. "No one escaped Speed Demon. I myself have only seen him once…" Dawn seemed to suddenly get lost in thought before recollecting her thoughts. "I was just lucky I only saw him for a fleeting moment."

"Is there anything concrete about him?" Barry asked "Like who he is or how we can stop him?"

"It's best to just stay as far away from him as possible and hope you don't do anything to get his attention. Honestly you have a better chance to stop a hurricane or an earthquake than stopping Speed Demon" Dawn noted Barry's expression and decided to push the matter further. "Why do you ask?"

"He murdered Ben." Iris spoke up for Barry and Caitlin. She offered the couple a soft smile before continuing. "We need to find him and stop him before he comes after anyone else. If there's anything you guys can tell us…"

"Well, maybe we should start with the beginning." Don said sharing a glance with his sister. "You guys know how Savitar's legend is spread across time and the Multiverse?"

"Yeah, Jay mentioned that about Savitar just before our second encounter with him." Barry replied

"Everything we know about Speed Demon is very much the same. Only stories about him go back even further, there are legit cave paintings from upwards of 30,000 years ago that depict Speed Demon. And they can be found on multiple Earths, not just our own."

Eddie was the first to sort of process what was being told to them. "So either he's been crisscrossing throughout history, or…"

"He's immortal like Vandal Savage." Cisco completed for Eddie.

"You guys met Vandal Savage?" Don asked. "Or are you talking about Hath Set?"

"Uh aren't they the same guy?" The Flash gave his future kids a confused look.

"No, they are two very different people, but we are getting off topic." Dawn gestured for everyone to follow the twins. "Come on. It's easier if we show you guys."

As Team Flash followed the Tornado Twins back towards the cortex Barry couldn't help but let his mind drift back to the warning the Speed Force had given him roughly a month ago.

 _He will bathe in the blood of your children._

Speed Demon had already killed Ben did that mean he was coming for Don and Dawn next? The warning made it sound like Speed Demon was first going to kill his kids, then Caitlin and finally him. Even though he didn't know Don and Dawn that well he silently promised himself he wasn't going to allow Speed Demon to harm them.

* * *

 **Godspeed's Hideout**

Godspeed sat in his makeshift chair, well not really a chair more like his throne. He was lost in thought as he observed the object he held within his right hand. The helmet of Savitar. The white clad speedster had since abandoned his mask feeling as if Savitar could see into his eyes even though it was an empty helm.

Everything was going according to his plan. He didn't even care if Team Flash discovered the truth at this point, it wasn't like it would change anything.

"How does it feel Savitar?" He asked the helmet as if expecting it to respond. "To know that everything you had and everything else you desired will be stripped away by me." He smirked and chuckled to himself. "If only you could see how wrong you were for choosing him over me. This all could have been avoided. You'd still be alive with your lover and ruling all of time with me by your side."

He stood up and carried the helmet towards the large hollowed suit of the God of Speed. In a crackle of lightning he put the suit back together. He thought back to the day of Savitar's demise and smiled. It took quite a lot of work but the God of Speed had been brought low not by the Flash or his protégé but rather by the one he thought of as his heir.

"You had your chance old man. Now… now it is my turn to be a God."

* * *

This is the end of the chapter

Please tell me what you liked, didn't like, look forward to/think will happen, or your general thoughts and comments, this will help me make the story better; I'm a big boy so I can take criticism. And if you Review you get a Shout Out and questions answered either privately or in the next chapter.

Please share this with everyone you can via whatever platform of social media you want. I would love it if the whole fandom got to enjoy this story and not just the one on fanfiction.

Have a Fantastic day


	28. Save the Date

**Disclaimer:** The following is a nonprofit Fan based story; The FLASH and all related characters are owned by DC comics, the CW and anyone I may have missed.

Like I always seem to say to the point of redundancy (doesn't mean it's any less true) I love everyone who Reviews, Favorites and or Follows any of my stories. Again, if I didn't respond I apologize and just let me know.

Reviews: **CallMeMiles Eliley, wilsonenmanual43 BlueInazuma, josephguy217,** and **changingdestiny40**

Favorites: **kdp, ChristianMarek.1216, Nienke Whovian, toshiro and sakura 4 ever** and **Dcrawford84**

Followers: **Mystiz, Linial** and **kdp**

Well, here we are again my friends. Let me just say I enjoy reading every review this story gets. especially ones where people express their ideas about what will happen next. I really hope I am keeping you all on your toes and that you all enjoy this story and stick with it until the end. See, I recently got an idea for a sequel but my only issue with it is I don't really have a plot. Just a bunch of cool ideas.

I have taken too much time as it is. Please relax and enjoy chapter 28.

* * *

 _The Flash: Survival of the Fastest_

Chapter 28: Save the Date

* * *

 **August 23 2020**

 **Coast City Memorial Hospital**

After his wife had fallen asleep Savitar made his was down the hall to the maternity ward to check on his son. He stood silently on the other side of the glass scanning the room full of infants for his child. Despite the commotion of the hospital Savitar could only hear the relentless pitter patter of the rain outside. Eventually Savitar spotted his and Killer Frost's son. Sleeping peacefully. He could not believe how much his life had changed. For what was an eternity he was hellbent on ruining Barry Allen's life in order to ensure his own birth. When he thought about it it was a ridiculous cycle. Savitar kills Iris. Barry makes Time Remnants. Time Remnant survives and becomes Savitar. Rinse and Repeat. If anything, that was the true prison Savitar was in, not the hell that the Speed Force created for him. Perhaps one day he could thank that speedster that pulled him free and reunited him with Killer Frost last year.

"Ah Mr. Heart I was just about to come and see you and your wife." Savitar turned to see one of the Doctors approaching him. What was her name again? Lawton? No that wasn't it. What was it? In that split second Savitar grabbed the woman's ID memorized her name and put it back all before a second even passed. Dr. Meena Dawne was her name.

"Dr. Dawne. What can I do for you?" Savitar asked

"Quick Mr. Heart, there isn't much time." She sounded almost out of breath, and spoke with a loud whisper. "You have to take your son and wife and get out of here."

This confused Savitar. "What are you talking about?"

"We ran standard test on your son like we normally do and well… he's a Meta-Human." Savitar could not control the surprise that shuck onto his face. Before he could respond she continued to speak. "Here." She handed him a flash drive. "This has the results of his test. It'll only buy you so much time. You need to get your son and wife and leave before he's registered."

Savitar knew what Dr. Dawne was talking about. Earlier this year, Meta-Human registration acts were passed around the world. Practically anyone could be classified as a Meta-Human, and if you were unlucky enough to be registered that meant the government would have complete and total access to your every location and action at any given point in time. And this information would be freely accessible to the public.

Savitar looked down at the flash drive that had been shoved into his hand before looking back at the doctor. "Thank-" Savitar never finished his sentence as he felt a slight prick in the pack of his neck. Using his speed, unconcerned about Dr. Dawne seeing his powers since she was aware his son was a Meta-Human, Savitar grabbed a hold of a tiny dart that barely broke the skin on the back of his neck. He never got the chance to observe it as he felt a needle pierce his chest, near his heart. The last thing he saw was Dr. Dawne holding a now empty syringe and wearing a smirk on her face.

Once the God of Speed lost consciousness all hell broke loose in the hospital.

* * *

 **February 13 2018**

 **Central City**

For the last couple of weeks things have gotten progressively better for Team Flash despite the lingering threat of Godspeed and Savitar. Dawn and Don were integrating well into the Team. Occasionally they would step out into the field either with other members of the team or by themselves and provide a hinderance to crime and any rouge Meta-Humans that try and cause trouble.

This allowed Barry and Caitlin a little breathing room in order for them to start to plan their wedding.

Meanwhile Caitlin was approaching the eighth week of her pregnancy. Meaning sooner or later Caitlin was going to be showing. Perhaps It was time for the young couple to reveal that they were expecting, especially if, by their estimation, Caitlin would be firmly within her second trimester at around twenty weeks.

Dr. Snow was also trying to figure out why her connection to the Speed Force was constantly dropping at a steady rate roughly 2.5% a week. She had lost a grand total of about 20% of her connection to the Speed Force to date. It was scaring her. She wasted to tell Barry, but he would most likely begin treating her as if she were made of Glass, and she was already getting that treatment from him ever since they found out about her pregnancy. If only she could figure out where it was going and how it was leaving her.

* * *

 **Last Night  
**

 **S.T.A.R. Labs**

Caitlin ran her hands through her hair after reading the results of her latest test. "20%" she murmured to herself. She glanced from her computer monitor over to her suit which had been untouched for quite some time now. Last time she suited up she found herself far more exhausted and hungry than ever. This was on top of finding her top speed, while still impressive, was steadily decreasing.

She wanted to be out there with everyone. She wanted to help people who needed it. Caitlin had come to love being a hero. And the doubt about whether she'd remain one was growing every eyes drifted from her suit to the synthesized vials of MH-52 she had been attempting to recreate. This syrum had been able to give ordinary people powers. Caitlin could take it so that she could still help everyone, but the powers seemed to be random and vary person to person, and there was no way she'd even consider recreating Velocity-9. There was no telling what either drug would do to her and her baby.

Caitlin smiled to herself as she gently rubbed her stomach. Her and Barry's . He was going to be such a great hero one day Caitlin had no doubt about it. She wanted to be a hero that he could look up to as he grew up but if she has to chose between being a hero and being a parent to their child there was no doubt in Caitlin's mind about what she would chose.

Her phone buzzed gathering her attention.

- _What Time are you coming home?-_ Barry's text read.

Caitlin smiled before quickly texting him her response. - _Just finishing up. Be home in a Flash ;p -_

Caitlin silently but away her research, set the alarm, turned out the lights and locked up S.T.A.R. Labs for the night before heading home.

* * *

 **Present Day**

 **Barry and Caitlin Home**

"So, I'm thinking we don't do anything too fancy." Caitlin said as she watched Barry speed read through the umpteenth wedding magazine.

"Come on Caitlin, it's our wedding day. Your Day." Barry put the magazine down. "It's the one day you get to be completely selfish. Name what every you want and I will make sure you have it on that day."

Caitlin smiled. "And what day would that be?" She asked cocking an eyebrow. "We haven't decided on that have we. And this little guy isn't leaving us many options after derailing or thoughts of a June Wedding."

"I've got an idea." A moment later There was a calendar pinned to the wall and a dart in Caitlin's hand.

"Barry…"

"Look, trust me on this one." Barry gently guided Caitlin to her feet before taking a small cloth and wrapping it around her eyes acting as a temporary blindfold. "Now, I'll help you aim for the calendar but the rest is up to you. And before you say anything I promise I won't use my powers to manipulate the outcome."

"OK…" Caitlin chuckled slightly as she felt Barry's gentle touch guiding her hand. She readied her self and released the dart allowing it to fly through the air and hit its target with a thunk.

Slowly Caitlin removed her blindfold to see the dart resting comfortably in the box marked June 16th 2018. A smile crept across her face as she felt Barry's arms snake around her waist. She knew what he was going to do next so she turned her head to intercept his lips with her own.

"June 16th, that will be our Wedding Day."

"I love it. I was kind of hoping for the twenty fourth but the sixteenth is nice."

"We'll make the Twenty Fourth the rain date." Barry said smiling. "So, what should we do now?" Barry asked with a dorky smirk.

"I can think of something." Caitlin's words made Barry blush a little more and his dorky smile grow.

* * *

 **Godspeed's Lair**

Abigale stared blankly at the tray of food that had been placed in front of her debating weather or not she should eat or allow herself to starve to death? Either way it wouldn't really matter since her body would revert her to her previous state of either hunger or fullness. Her gaze drifted from the tray to the cuffs on her wrists and the chains that connected them to the floor and the wall. They were not power dampening cuffs but Abigale had such a lack of control on her powers that it was pointless to use power dampening cuffs. Every one in a while she'd be able to muster up a flicker of black electricity before it faded to nothing.

She sighed and looked up at the empty ceiling thinking to the last time she felt safe. She was only a little girl no older than five, clinging desperately to the chest of a young man who she had never met before. He was the only one standing between her and the Villain known as Puppet Master at that time.

* * *

 **November 3 2037**

 **Central City**

The little girl remembered falling as she freed herself from Puppet Master's grip in a desperate last-ditch effort to try and escape. Maybe the man reaching out for her would catch her, maybe he wouldn't either way it was better than being in the puppeteer's grasp.

"I won't let you go." He said

" _ **GIVE HER BACK**_!" Puppet Master screamed angrily as he reached over the edge of the roof launching a torrent of wires in an attempt to recapture her. The hero responded by slamming his left leg into the side of the building rocketing him and the little girl away while also smashing the side of the building into rubble.

They landed on the ground some dozen feet away. He was wearing a look of surprise not only from the display of strength but also the fact his legs were not broken after free falling for essentially ten stories minimum.

"What? How? How are my legs not broken?" Realization flashed across his face as he looked up at the little girl. "Was that you?" The Hero asked the little girl gently. "Does the Speed Force allow you to heal people?"

With a trembling lip and tears in her eyes she nodded.

" _ **You don't understand what a monster that girl is. She has the power to control time itself!**_ " Puppet Master declared as he appeared not too far from them standing on what looked to be nothing but air. " _ **She can rewind you until you no longer exist. Or she can accelerate you until you are nothing but pile of dust.**_ _**That girl is a deity, just like her father. With her powers I can easily manipulate the demand for powers. And with my drugs anyone can be super. I'll own the Powers Market."**_ Beneath his plague mask Puppet Master chuckled. " _ **What happens to her is none of your business! Return her to me. Now. And I promise to give you a quick death.**_ "

"It doesn't matter if this isn't my business! She looks like she needs to be saved."

" _ **From what**_?" The puppeteer asked.

"You!" Blue-white lightning crackled to life around the hero. Despite being no older than seventeen he had the heart of a real hero. She felt a sense of kinship with this other meta-human. She could feel the Speed Force flowing through his veins. He was a speedster yet he was completely different, just like her. Thunder roared as dark clouds gathered overhead.

Neither the little girl nor the hero realized they were being watched by another Speedster, one clad in a metallic suit. He had arrived earlier and was watching the events unfold ready to swoop in and take the little girl at a moment's notice but chose to not interfere when he saw how she clung to the young man. Despite how important the little girl was to him, instead he watched the young hero transfixed. How could his daughter take to this man right away? Why was The God of Speed allowing this to unfold?

Puppet Master had been operating in the shadows for years, fast approaching a decade. Savitar had decided it was time to end him when he abducted his daughter but seeing this young man, who looked familiar, protecting his little girl left Savitar to wonder and allow the events to unfold.

* * *

 **Present Day**

Golden-white lightning flashed into the room coming to a stop in front of Abigale snapping her out of her memory. " _ **You need to eat**_." She sent a defiant glare at him. " _ **Samantha**_."

Abigale, or rather Samantha sent Godspeed a furious look. "Don't call me that!"

" _ **Why not? It's the name our parents gave to you. Samantha Heart**_."

"Shut up!" Samantha yelled. "You kidnapped me! Chained me up! You aren't my brother! You never will be him!" She cried.

" _ **Oh, come now little sister."**_ Godspeed crouched so that he was looking her in the eye. " _ **We're family like it or not. You will help me when the time comes**_ , _ **make yourself as comfortable as you can. I have an appointment with our dear parents.**_ "

And just like that Godspeed disappeared in a flash of golden-white lightning leaving his suit up on the mannequin. Once she was sure he was gone Samantha pulled her knees to her chest and began to cry. She wished she could go home. She wished her parents were there waiting for her, most of all, she just wished to be back in the time when she felt safest; in the arms of someone who showed her kindness.

She knew who her parents were. Though Samantha barely remembers her mother, as she passed away when she was young, she does remember her father and the love he showered her with. Despite claiming they abandoned her, deep down Samantha knew the truth, after she had been kidnapped by Puppet Master roughly a decade from now, she was rescued by a hero and instead of returning to her father she allowed him to take her somewhere where she could live in peace, away from all the Heroes, Villains and Meta-Humans. He took her to a home.

* * *

 **S.T.A.R. Labs, Cortex**

Dawn and Don West-Allen sat in the cortex looking through old photos comprising of Team Flash's four years of adventures.

"This is such a different world to the one we know." Don said "I feel like we might have traveled to a different reality rather than back in time."

"Yeah… do you ever remember seeing Dad this happy?" Dawn asked as she showed her brother a picture of Barry with his arms wrapped around Caitlin.

Don shook his head. "Can't say I have. Though maybe once or twice… before you know…" Dawn nodded in response knowing they were talking about Iris' death.

Dawn took a deep breath and stood up. "I have an idea, why don't we go get some lunch, and they take a lap around the city."

"Where'd you have in mind?" Don asked

"Where ever allows us to take in the most calories for the cheapest cost."

"Should we invite mom and dad?"

Dawn thought for a moment. "Dad's probably busy with his fiancé. Mom might be busy with Detective Thawne." It really weirded out the twins how their mother was together with Eobard Thawne's, their dad's most persistent enemy, ancestor while their father was on track to marry a woman they had never heard of before coming to the past. "Let's just go, just the two of us."

Before Don could respond to his sister the alerts began to go off. There was another Meta-Human wreaking havoc in Keystone City.

"Hey what's going on?" Cisco asked as he emerged from the hallway followed by Wally and Iris.

"Not sure." With a few key strokes Dawn pulled up a video someone had posted moments before. According to the video Their new meta-human was a large overweight man and he was halfway through devouring a large armored truck. His mouth grew in size allowing him to tear chunks off of the truck like it was a slab of meat.

"Ugh…" Iris made a grossed-out face. "My mouth hurts just watching that."

"This guy's like some kind of matter eating man…" Cisco paused for a moment pondering what he just said.

The video continued and showed him pick up a bag of jewels, most likely diamonds, and pour them into his mouth like M&M's.

"Well, no point waiting around here. Let's go get him." Wally shared a glance with his niece and nephew and raced out of the cortex after grabbing his suit. The twins spared one last look towards Iris silently telling her they would be OK before racing off.

Cisco turned to Iris not that they were alone. "Guess I should head out and help them face off against this Matter-Eater Man." Iris' expression told him it was a lousy nickname. "Ok I'll admit, it's not my best work."

"No, it isn't."

Cisco pointed off towards the hallway and began to back away awkwardly. "I'm going to go help them now."

* * *

 **Central City Mall**

"You know, when I asked 'What should we do now?' and you replied with 'I can think of something.' I didn't think you meant we'd go out shopping." Barry said to Caitlin as they walked hand in hand through the mall.

"Really? What did you think I was implying?" Caitlin asked. "Never mind don't answer that."

"What? What was I supposed to say?" Caitlin rolled her eyes. "Oh… I was supposed to say something dirty, right? Ok, Something dirty."

Caitlin smirked and despite her best efforts she ended up snorting rather than laughing. Immediately she covered her mouth in embarrassment while she began to blush a deep crimson. "That was a terrible joke Mr. Allen." They continued to walk silently hand in hand with smiles on their faces.

They walked towards the food court stopping only at a pretzel stand. Barry ordered then each three pretzels; one salted, one plain and one cinnamon each. They sat down and began to eat until several bites in Barry saw Caitlin go noticeably pale.

"Cait?"

"I don't feel so good…" Caitlin whimpered as she gingerly held her stomach.

Panic flooded across Barry's face as he abruptly stood up. "Ok" he took her hand and quickly, but not too quickly guided her towards the women's restroom.

* * *

 **East Side Keystone City**

Wally threw a punch at the eating Meta-Human. Just before his fist collided with the man's face the Meta-Human's skin changed from flesh into diamond. Wally could only watch in slow motion as his hand collided with the one of the most durable substances on earth. His skin ripped from the impact as his bones all but shattered into dust. Bone fragments could only go one way, through his skin leaving Kid Flash's arm a mess of flesh, blood, bone and muscle. There was no telling if it could even heal.

"ARGH!" Wally let out an unearthly scream of pain as he fell to the ground clutching what was left of his arm.

"Kid Flash!" Don was immediately by his side. He began to spin his right arm at high speeds creating a vortex to throw the Meta away from them.

The Tornado Twins suits were identical structure and material to both The Flashes and Kid Flash. The only difference was Don's was indigo while Dawns was more of a purple color. And neither wore masks to conceal their identities opting rather to vibrate their facial features so rapidly no image of them could be taken.

"Just who the hell is this guy?" Don wondered out loud. "There are no records of him from where we are from."

"He's definitely a new Meta created by that MH-52 mom mentioned." Dawn answered. "A drug that can turn regular people into Meta-Humans is disgusting." She gritted her teeth in anger.

"They say you are what you eat." The Meta-Human said, half his face and a good portion of his upper left body had turned into a mixture of steel and diamond. "I guess that makes me invincible!"

"This dude is some kind of literal omnivore." Don muttered.

Dawn meanwhile couldn't help but vaguely remember some kind of obscure reference to someone with these abilities despite her brothers claims otherwise. In the future there was a man known as The Omnivore due to his uncanny ability to devour all forms of matter whether they be solid, liquid, gas or even things like plasma and whatever he ate became a part of him. He made a fortune through selling massive amounts of precious metals. And he was made dangerous by his eating habits. Like he said, he was an embodiment of 'you are what you eat.'

"I wish Charlie were here. He would find a way to beat this guy."

"Yeah well Charlie isn't here Dawn. In fact, we'll never see him again! Because he's dead!" Don yelled in frustration a little too angrily.

A breach opened up behind Omnivore and Cisco jumped out unleashing a vibrational blast that knocked the Meta away from the speedsters. "There's more where that came from." Cisco unleashed another vibrational blast but instead of connecting with Omnivore the fat meta-human opened his mouth unnaturally wide and swallowed Cisco's blast.

" **burp** …Not bad." Omnivore said patting his large stomach. "Could have tasted better to be honest."

Cisco immediately fired another blast but Omnivore turned his body into the blend of steel and diamond. Cisco kept pouring on the vibrational blasts tuning the frequency ever so slightly. "It's useless! My body is now made of diamond and steel! I am invincible!"

That did not deter Cisco. Instead he attuned his vibrational frequencies. "If your outside is made of Steel and Diamond I doubt your insides are."

Cisco continued to pour on his vibrational blasts bringing Omnivore to his knees. With him on his knees Dawn raced over and attempted to slap a pair of cuffs onto his wrists but found them too fat.

"They won't fit!"

"Great what do we do now?"

Suddenly Cisco felt something wrap around his outstretched arm. He only had a split second to react before he was whipped into the side of a building.

"Vibe!" Wally called out. Dawn immediately made her way towards Cisco but suddenly tripped over a nearly invisible wire.

" _ **I don't know who you brats are but I can't have you messing up my plans**_." Wally and Don looked up to see a man wearing a black dress shirt, pants and shoes with a midnight black vest and blood red tie. His face was obscured by a snow-white plague mask with black lenses which upon close inspection appeared to be stitched to his exposed skin. Over his outfit, he sported a long black coat with a large dark gray furred collar, hem and cuffs. He spoke with a distorted voice, perhaps by some sort of modulator by some sort of modulator but the most interesting thing was the fact he appeared to be floating in the air.

"Who the hell are you?" Don demanded.

" _ **None of your concern**_." He gestured his hand to Omnivore and with some simple finger movements the obese man was levitating off the ground. " _ **Now if you'll excuse us I have business to attend to**_." He moved his right pinky and omnivore's right arm followed suit. To the shock of Kid Flash, Vibe and the Tornado Twins a vibrational blast shot forth from Omnivore's hand and opened a breach. " ** _Oh, before I forget, I would like to cordially invite all you to to a party. I cannot tell you when or where it is but keep your calendars open. It's sure to be"_** He paused for a moment " _ **Bloody Spectacular**_. _**Ta Ta**_." The man in black and Omnivore then disappeared into the breach.

"What the hell was that?" Don turned to Vibe and Kid Flash. "Who the hell was that guy?"

"A telekinetic?" Dawn offered. "But that doesn't explain what we just saw. How can Omnivore open breaches? And how can that guy control them?"

"Whoever he was he just made a vague threat." Cisco said as he helped Wally to his feet. "But we have worse things to worry about. We better get back to S.T.A.R. Labs."

"How's your arm Kid Flash?" Don asked

"Can't feel it anymore. Though I've had worse." Kid Flash offered a smile up but truth be told he was struggling to not go into shock. "Let's get back. Have Caitlin meet us there."

Cisco nodded and opened up another breach for them all to leap into back to S.T.A.R. Labs things were getting crazier by the day and Team Flash needed time to catch their breaths.

* * *

 **Central City Mall**

Barry stood outside the door and listened to Caitlin as she vomited up whatever was in her stomach. A few bystanders gave him funny looks and he responded with an awkward smile, surely it looked odd for a man to be standing right next to the door to the women's restroom.

Barry gently knocked on the door. "Are you OK Cait?" For the most part Caitlin's pregnancy had spared her the morning sickness, though every once in a while, she'd develop an upset stomach.

"No…" Caitlin grumbled weakly. "I think… I think we might need to head home…"

"Ok Cait." Barry took a few steps away from the woman's rest room. Caitlin emerged still looking ill, in fact she looked even worse than before. "I think you might need to go see a doctor Caitlin."

"I'm fine Barry… it's just morning sickness."

"No, I don't think morning sickness would be this bad Caitlin." Caitlin would have rolled her eyes if the action if she wasn't afraid of throwing up again.

"You've obviously never heard of hyperemesis gravidarum."

"Hyper… what?" Barry questioned. "That sounds made up."

"Hyperemesis gravidarum," Caitlin continued. "It's a pregnancy complication characterized as severe morning sickness."

"Ahhh…" Barry kind of sort of pretended to understand. "Do you think we should go see your doctor? I mean, your morning sickness has been kind of severe and irregular recently. I don't think that's healthy."

Caitlin was silent for a moment, perhaps a moment too long. "Yeah… I think we might have to go."

"Great, let's head home. I'll call and set up the appointment all you have to do is relax and let me do all the work." Barry wrapped his right arm across her back while taking her left in his own to support her as they began the slightly long walk out of the mall so they could flash back home.

Caitlin gave Barry a smile and leaned her head into his shoulder.

At that moment both of their phones went off with a ping. It was a message from Iris, they needed to get to S.T.A.R. Labs right away. Wally had been hurt.

The couple shared a silent nod but before they could go anywhere Barry noticed a flicker of golden-white lightning out of the corner of his eye. Caitlin had noticed it as well. They shared another look before following the lightning and were left stunned by its origin. Standing on the other side of the crowd wearing a cocky smirk was none other than their dead son, Ben.

"Hello Mom. Hello Dad." His gaze first fell on Caitlin then it turned to Barry with an unsettling smirk. "I think its time we had a chat."

* * *

This is the end of the chapter

Please tell me what you liked, didn't like, look forward to/think will happen, or your general thoughts and comments, this will help me make the story better; I'm a big boy so I can take criticism. And if you Review you get a Shout Out and questions answered either privately or in the next chapter.

Please share this with everyone you can via whatever platform of social media you want. I would love it if the whole fandom got to enjoy this story and not just the one on fanfiction.

Have a Fantastic day


	29. Who Are You?

**Disclaimer:** The following is a nonprofit Fan based story; The FLASH and all related characters are owned by DC comics, the CW and anyone I may have missed.

Like I always seem to say to the point of redundancy (doesn't mean it's any less true) I love everyone who Reviews, Favorites and or Follows any of my stories. Again, if I didn't respond I apologize and just let me know.

Reviews: **Eliley, CallMeMiles, Carlthereader, changingdestiny40, Samantha,** and **wilsonenmanual43**

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Followers: **danil123** , **Ace of Hate** , **TheGamer515** , **Tiago Guimaraes** and **ZaraSwann**

Well here it is. I finally finished this chapter. Now I know I definitely sound like a broken record when I say this took a lot longer than I expected but what can I say except quote one of my favorite fictional characters; 'Writing is hard.' Also, I apologize in advance if there are lines that seem to pop up multiple times.

* * *

 _The Flash: Survival of the Fastest_

Chapter 28: Who are you?

* * *

 **August 23 2020**

 **Coast City Memorial Hospital**

Savitar groaned in pain as his vision came back to him and he pushed himself back to his feet. The lights of the Hospital were flickering while a high pitch screech pierced Savitar's ears.

Complete Chaos. That's the state of the hospital. Savitar looked around trying to get his bearings and to remember what had happened. He remembered that doctor's words and immediately his heart was filled with an emotion he had long forgotten. Dread. He burst through the nearby door of the maternity ward in to the room of screaming babies. Using his speed, he checked out every baby and with each on his heart grew heavier and heavier. His son was gone. White lightning raced across the eyes of the God of Speed as he was filled with a blistering rage.

Moments later he has searched the entire hospital and killed every doctor who could not answer his demands. He killed the final doctor when he finally got some answers. A moment later he was in the doorway of Frost's room only to see his wife surrounded by heavily armed and armored men. Frost was unconscious but Savitar could clearly see the dozen IV bags hanging above her draining an unknown fluid into her while another IV was draining out her blood.

"Shit!" One of them aimed his gun at Savitar. Savitar allowed the Speed Force to flow through his entire body in an instant slowing the world down to a crawl. He had learned a few new tricks in the past year. He flexed his forearms and an instant later the massive gauntlets of his metallic suit we adorning his hands with their blades extended.

What happened next was quick and bloody as Savitar savagely tore the armed men apart and painted the room crimson with their blood. Flesh and limbs flew everywhere in slow motion but Savitar was in only a blind furry. The slaughter was quick and brutal, leaving the God of Speed actually feeling winded once he slowed down to the same speed as the rest of the world. He made his way to Frost and yanked the IVs from her arms.

"Frost!" He gently shook her but she was unresponsive. He checked for a pulse, and thankfully found one. It was weak, but steady. By his guess these men had drained her of nearly four pints of blood. Her skin was far paler than it usually was and as fear set in Savitar scooped her into his arms. He had to get her out of here.

 **Several Hours Later**

Savitar had brought Frost to the clinic she worked at the good news was it was so late that there was no one to bother them while he reintroduced her blood back into her system.

Even though their son was now missing, more likely than not stolen by the same men who were after his wife, Savitar could not loose Frost. Loosing his wife… that would, without a doubt, break him. He sat there and stroked her hand lightly allowing his mind to drift back to when he was freed from the Speed Force, the day he found her again.

" _Who are you?"_ Those were the first words she had said to him after regaining consciousness. Whatever Blackhole did to her it gave her amnesia, as well as activated her latent cryokinetic abilities.

" _Caitlin… Don't you remember? It's me. Barry."_ Despite throwing away that name long ago Caitlin was the only one allowed to call him by that name without inciting his anger.

Over the next several months Savitar filled in Caitlin's missing memories, leaving out many of the details, only telling her what she needed to her.

Savitar held her hand, gently stroking the ring he had placed on her finger, and looked at her with nothing except love. "I'm sorry Caitlin… I let you down. Because of me our son is now missing. I swear to you, once you wake up there is nothing in this world that will stop us from finding him. Those men will rue the day they stole our baby boy. When we find him, and believe me, we will, we will finally get to be a family."

He leaned down and kissed her forehead before standing up and summoning his metallic suit to him. In a bolt of white lightning The God of Speed was gone.

* * *

 **Present Day**

 **Godspeed's Hideout**

Samantha Heart struggled against her chains when a breach opened in the far wall of the lair. Out of it came Puppet Master and a large man.

"How'd you do that?" Omnivore asked confused as to how Puppet Master was able to force Omnivore to create a wormhole.

" _ **Simple, I saw you devour Vibe's ability so I hypothesized that it should give you the same ability, albeit so long as it remains in your system. Forcing you to use it? I have been analyzing The Flash's team for a while now thanks to a man on the inside. I have a general idea how Vibe's powers work**_." Puppet Master said as he removed his plague mask revealing the face of DA David Caesar. He tossed his coat and mask and they seemed to catch onto something invisible because they just hung in the air. "Welcome to our base of operations Omnivore."

"Impressive." Omnivore said looking around noticing all of the emptiness. "Lots of… space."

"It suits our needs."

"Got anything to eat? I'm starving." Omnivore said rubbing his stomach.

"Over there." Caesar pointed towards the far corner that had been set up to vaguely resemble a quasi-kitchen. "Or would you prefer something more…expensive."

"What do you have in mind?"

"Whatever you eat becomes a part of your body correct?"

"Yes. Ever since I took that damned drug I've been constantly hungry. I have to eat. Didn't realize I could eat everything until I accidentally bit my fork in half."

"Well, the reason I ask is because my business endeavors require a little more financing. Say you were to eat precious jewels or gold. You could produce infinite qualities of them correct?" Caesar asked

Omnivore nodded his head. "Sure can. I ate some chicken fingers the other day and the next thing I knew I had talons, wings and a beak."

"That's… interesting." Caesar said. "Well, let me introduce you to the rest of you little gang." Almost as soon as he spoke two figures approached DA Caesar and Omnivore. "Allow me to introduce you to; James 'Jack' Potts and his sister Jaqueline Potts. A.K.A. Sir Prize and Miss Fortune." The siblings gave a nonchalant wave to Omnivore.

"Sup."

"So, what can these two do?" Omnivore asked

"They are able to manipulate luck." Caesar explained. "With them by our side we will be able to accomplish our goal without a problem."

"And this is everyone?" Omnivore asked "Just us four?" There was a scuttling noise from above them all. "What the hell was that?"

"That was another one of our associates." Caesar glanced up "She is quite tenacious and foul tempered, though her abilities are quite… unique I should say."

"Anyone else I should know about?"

"We also have a man inside CCPD." James Potts said.

"And a monopoly on the criminal underworld." His sister said.

As they continued to chat Samantha watched and listened. Despite remaining as calm as possible she still felt some degree of trauma from her time with the future version of Puppet Master.

" _My mommy and daddy will save me!"_ She repeated those words like a mantra over and over during her imprisonment by Puppet Master. Even now she still says them to herself whenever she feels like the weight of the world is on her shoulders and there is nothing she can do. She knows, deep down, her mother and father will not save her, in fact there was zero chance they were ever going to save her again.

Samantha hugged her knees tightly to her chest and ignored the rest of the world and allowed herself to drift back into her memories.

* * *

 **May 3 2037**

 **Happy Harbor, Rhode Island**

Five-year-old Samantha, along with the hero who had saved her from Puppet Master were standing in front of a door to a nice house on the outside of a city. The Hero reached to the door and knocked. Almost immediately Samantha heard dogs bark excitedly. A Woman opened the door whole two golden blurs bolted out the door and immediately assaulted Samantha with wet black noses.

"Butch! Sundance!" Samantha couldn't help but laugh as the two golden retrievers we pulled off of her. One Golden retriever, Butch, wore a red bandana around his neck while Sundance 'Sunny' wore a blue bandana around her neck.

"I am so sorry about these two trouble makers. They just get so excited whenever Charlie comes home." The woman said looking at the Hero named Charlie.

Charlie smiled and embraced the woman in a fierce hug. "It's good to see you again mom."

"So, Charlie, who's this?" Charlie's mother asked looking at Samantha. "I hope she isn't yours, I'm too young to be a grandmother. Don't make me feel old"

Charlie groaned. "Come on mom, you're only thirty-five," Samantha was fairly certain his mother was not thirty-five, she looked maybe late forties. "and this kid is Samantha and no she isn't mine. Come on mom you know me better than that."

"Hi… Mrs. McGrath." Samantha greeted shyly. "Its very nice to meet you."

Mrs. McGrath offered Samantha a smile. "There's no need to be so formal Samantha. You can call me Miranda. After all Charlie said you're going to be staying with us for a while."

* * *

 **Present Time**

Samantha smiled to herself. Charlie and his mother took her in and while Samantha had always expected her parents to find her they never did despite Charlie and Miranda actively helping her try and find Henry and Catherine Heart but it was like neither of them existed. The Years she ended up staying with the McGraths were phenomenal. They took her in with open arms and she found herself quickly becoming a member of the family with Charlie as her big brother and Miranda as her new Mother.

She gently rubbed what little of her wrist was exposed from the dampening cuffs she could. Godspeed Had designed these cuffs to damped all except her altered age and her ability to see every potential future. This was something Godspeed should not have allowed for Samantha had foreseen her liberation. She kept going back to it over and over again and thinking about how this will all end with her in her parents' arms.

* * *

 **Central City Mall**

"This is a little crowded. Let's have a little privacy." Ben still wore his unnerving smirk. He raised his right hand and brought his middle finger and thumb together. Golden white lightning hummed around his fingers for a split second. He snapped his fingers with a thunderous boom. It formed a bubble of energy around the three speedsters and all the world outside the bubble slowed down until it stopped. "Much better."

"What is this?" Barry asked looking around at the frozen world.

"You might know it as Flashtime." Ben said simply. "Time is dilated where one second outside this bubble but in here, in here one month will seemingly pass for us."

"One Month?"

"Not really, but it'll feel like it."

"Ben?" Caitlin was near speechless, she could barely hold in her tears. "How… how are you here? You… you died…"

Ben seemed to ignore Caitlin's question. "Still calling me that I see. Well guess it cannot be helped." A few chuckles escaped Ben's lips. "Guess you didn't listen to the Tornado Brats when they said Ben Allen doesn't exist."

"What?" Barry and Caitlin could not believe what Ben was saying.

"I thought you all would be smarter than this, after all, this is the third or fourth time you blindly believed someone only to be betrayed. Heck, I wasn't even concerned with the continuity of my story and I was able to play you all like a fiddle."

"Why? Why are you doing this Ben?" Barry demanded

"That's not my name Flash." Ben suddenly adopted a sterner expression. "Like the Tornado Brats said, Ben Allen doesn't exist, I made him up!"

"I gave you a polygraph!" Caitlin practically screamed through hot tears. "You weren't lying!"

Ben smirked. "It is ridiculously easy to fool a lie detector. Especially when I had a friend of mine alter my memories so that I even believed the stories. It is so much easier to lie when you believe you are telling the truth."

"But…how? Who was the August we initially met?"

"So, everything was a lie?" Barry demanded. "What was it all for? What were you trying to gain? Steal my powers? Murder us?"

"Why tell us now all this now!" Caitlin cried she felt like her heart was breaking. Their son, no there was no way he was their son. The baby growing inside her womb could never be like him.

"There's no reason for me to hide it anymore." Ben said as white-gold lightning coursed around him. "I've essentially already gotten what I want."

"Which is?"

Ben looked from Barry to Caitlin then directed his gaze to Caitlin's stomach. Barry immediately moved between them once he realized what Ben was saying.

"I once told you Flash, that I was going to take everything away from you." Ben said. "Your city, your loved ones, your powers. All of it would be mine."

 **SMACK** Caitlin suddenly was in front of Ben with her hand outstretched having just landed a slap to the man who was wearing her 'son's' face.

"You're a monster." She seethed.

"I'm a monster?" Ben's eyes turned a golden-white color charged with electricity. "I'm not the one who's entire life has been dictated by tragedy."

"Excuse me?" Caitlin demanded.

"It's who you are Caitlin. It's who you both are." He turned his attention to both Speedsters in front of him. "As Heroes and as Scientists. The only thing that gets Barry Allen and Caitlin Snow out of bed in the morning is Death. Death is a part of you two as everyone around you dies. It came for your Fathers as well as Barry's mother."

Yellow lightning flashed in Barry's eyes. He rushed forward and grabbed Ben speeding the both of them out of the Mall, with the way things were going it was about to be getting violent.

Caitlin stood there in the middle of the mall completely shell-shocked. One instant she was there with Barry and Ben, or August, whatever his name was and the next she was all alone. A pit seemed to form in her stomach, a slight twitch of pain. She moved a hand to her stomach as it churned violently. She didn't know if it was just her stomach or perhaps the baby. She felt as if the world was bearing on her shoulders. She was afraid for Barry. She was afraid of Ben. Everything that had transpired in the last few seconds mortified her. How could their son be such a monster?

No. It could not be true. She refused to believe it. She would not. The child growing inside her was not the same person who had been masquerading before them. He could not.

Feeling sick to her stomach, more so than before Caitlin made a beeline towards the exit. Despite her condition she needed to get to S.T.A.R. Labs. Barry was going to need all the help he could get. Within a few minutes Caitlin was exiting the mall and making her way towards her parked car. She and Barry had driven to the Mall mainly because using superspeed was not doing her stomach any favors.

She pulled her keys out of her purse and as she fumbled with them she bumped into another person which resulted in Caitlin dropping her keys and the contents of her purse to spill.

"Damn it…" Caitlin grumbled as she crouched down to pick her things up

"Oh, I am so sorry." The man said as he knelt down next to her and helped pick up her things. "I wasn't paying attention to where I was going."

"It's fine." Caitlin said as she reached for her phone. At the same time the young man reached for it, in the moment when their hands touched Caitlin felt what seemed to be a tiny jolt of electricity.

As they both stood up Caitlin got a good look at the young man. He was tall and handsome with short dark brown, borderline black, hair, blue eyes though Caitlin had to note his complexion was rather pale. Other than that, he wore a red flannel underneath a black jacket with an insignia on the right breast.

"You're a fireman?" Caitlin asked when she noticed got a closer look.

"Huh?" The young man looked down and chuckled to himself. "No, I am not a fireman. My dad was. But this, this is from Boy Scouts." Caitlin looked closer and noticed the unmistakable logo in the center. "We do a lot with my home town fire department."

"That's really nice."

"Have we met before?" Caitlin asked. There was something about this man. She felt like she met him and in all honesty, he was making her calmer. "I feel like we've met before."

"Maybe." The young man said he reached out his hand. "Where are my manners, I'm Charlie. Charlie McGrath."

Caitlin looked down for a moment at Charlie's outstretched hand. "Caitlin. Caitlin Snow."

"Caitlin Snow. That's a pretty name. Not that I am trying to flirt or anything I am a horrible filrt. It's just I noticed the ring on your finger are you…"

"Engaged." Caitlin answered.

"Congratulations." He looked like he was about to say more but his phone began to vibrate. "Ah, Well, Caitlin I don't want to keep you from what ever it is you need to do so… I guess I'll be on my way." Charlie offered her a smile as he walked towards the entrance.

"It was nice to meet you Charlie. I hope we'll see each other again."

Charlie offered Caitlin a smile. "I have a feeling we will be seeing each other again." He waved goodbye and disappeared through the doors of the mall leaving Caitlin standing there with a smile.

It was odd. For that tiny moment she had suddenly forgotten all of her problems. It was almost like she now knew that everything would be OK.

* * *

 **Outskirts of Central City**

Barry didn't really pay attention to how long he'd been running but he stopped when he slammed Ben into a colossal metallic structure, a windmill. They were now fairly far outside of Central City.

"See what I mean Flash." Ben cracked his neck as he brushed off the impact. "You think you're some kind of shining superhero. But I see you for what you truly are. Savitar was right about you."

"What do you know about Savitar?" Barry demanded.

Ben/August smiled. "I know everything about him Flash. I know more about both of you than you know." He chuckled and pointed at Barry. "A short while ago you asked me who I was. Ask me again."

Barry gritted his teeth. "Who are you?"

"My full name is August Benjamin Heart!" Ben declared as he struck his chest with pride. "I am the son of Savitar and Killer Frost!"

Barry was actually surprised enough to take a literal step back. 'Ben' or rather August was actually Savitar's son, with Killer Frost, Carla Tanhauser. That meant he was Caitlin's Brother. Technically her half brother but her brother none the less.

"You locked my father away in the Speed Force for eternity Flash. He lost his mind many times. And when he was finally freed he didn't recognize me. He was never the same. He was supposed to break you, but instead you broke him." August closed the distance between them and roughly grabbed Barry by the collar. "I vowed that I would never forget what you did to him. I vowed to never forgive you Flash."

Barry broke his grip and pushed August off of him. Immediately Barry punched him across the face before two shots to the stomach and an uppercut to his jaw. August landed on his back but quickly recovered and was back on his feet.

"You know, once he was gone, I knew it was my time. I stepped out of my father's shadow and took my rightful place." Barry watched as the gold-white lightning arced wildly around Ben and roared like a thousand lions. "With my powers I quickly discovered I am Judge, Jury and Executioner. I am the new God of Speed. So, I took the name" Barry watched as the golden white lighting wrapped around Ben's body forming the suit he had seen multiple times. " _ **Godspeed**_!" Thunder roared and Barry shielded his eyes from the lightning storm falling off of Godspeed.

" _ **Try and catch me Flash**_!" By the time Barry heard his voice and the woosh Godspeed was already gone leaving a faint trail of gold and white lightning.

"We had a funeral for you!" Barry growled as he struggled to keep pace with the man who pretended to be his son. "We mourned you! Your death broke us!"

" _ **Yes, I know. Iris delivered a very nice eulogy**_."

"And Lightspeed? What was his role in all of this?"

" _ **A distraction.**_ " Godspeed said simply " _ **To beef you up**_."

"Why!?"

" _ **To make your defeat all the sweeter."**_

" _ **You'll never catch me Flash, faster speedsters have tried and they're all dead**_. _**Despite what you think I have a superior connection to the Speed Force.**_ "

"Which you stole form other Speedsters."

" _ **They were wasting their abilities. Not only that but they refused to join me**_."

"So, you killed them. You were never a hero! You are a murderer!" Barry yelled as he rotated his left arm to try and create a gust of wind to knock Godspeed off of his feet.

" _ **Why? Because I've killed people? Or because you say so**_? _**Or is it because of my father?**_ "

"How did you do it Godspeed." Barry demanded. "I saw you die. I saw Speed Demon shove his hand through your chest. Is Speed Demon another identity you created?"

" _ **Oh him? No, no unfortunately he's very real.**_ " Godspeed Slid to a stop not too far from Barry. " _ **But you want to know how I faked my death?"**_

"How'd you do it? Time Remnant?" Barry noticed a slight change in August's Demeanor despite wearing his mask.

" _ **I am not stupid enough to make Time Remnants**_." Godspeed chuckled. " _ **And it wasn't a Speed Mirage."**_

"If you didn't use Time Remnants or Speed Mirages how did you fake your death?" Barry asked

" _ **You see Barry, its simple, I am faster than you."**_ Godspeed said.

" _ **So much faster that I can do the one thing all speedsters wish they could do without manipulating time."**_ Barry felt a hand placed on each shoulder and Godspeed's voice in his ear.

" _ **I can be in two places at once"**_

Barry couldn't believe what he was seeing in front of him was Godspeed, and behind him was also Godspeed. Godspeed-1 rushed in and punched Barry in the face while Godspeed-2 kneed him in the stomach.

One of the Godspeeds grabbed Barry and pinned his arms allowing the other Godspeed to begin wailing on The Flash. Barry only felt the first five punches after that he felt nothing.

* * *

 **S.T.A.R. Labs**

Wally was screaming in pain as he was practically restrained on the gurney. He couldn't feel his arm and from the perspective of everyone else it looked a lot like Harry Potters arm after Gilderoy Lockhart removed all the bones, only this was a lot worse with blood and bone fragments everywhere and Wally's skin had turned a sickening purple.

"Damn it where's Caitlin?" Cisco asked as he forced Wally's entire arm into a steel brace to minimize the movements.

"She's on her way." Iris said. Wally's sister couldn't help but cover her mouth with her hand. Seeing her little brother in such pain was, for lack of better words, painful. "My dad and Eddie are releasing an APB on Omnivore and the other guy."

"You mean Puppet Master." Wally groaned. "I recognized that mask."

"Hey Dawn, wasn't Puppet Master one of Dad's rouges?" Don asked his sister.

"Yes," Dawn said "Though he didn't show up until after Savitar was defeated."

"How did Barry stop him?" Iris asked. "If you know please tell us."

"He didn't." Dawn simply replied. "Puppet Master was finally defeated by Charlie. When he saved a little girl from him. Damn I wish he was here."

"Yeah…"

"Sorry it took so long for me to get here. Barry and I were…" Caitlin stopped as she entered into her lab to see the crowd of people around Wally. "What happened?" Caitlin asked as she saw Wally's mangled Arm.

"Long Story, problem is Sounds like the Puppet Master is gathering up Meta-Humans."

"What for?"

"Don't know." Dawn said "But it cannot be anything good especially now that he has Omnivore working for him."

"Omnivore?" Caitlin gave a confused look to Cisco.

"He literally is the phrase 'you are what you eat.'" Cisco answered. "He even was able to eat my powers and then mimic them."

"How is that possible?"

"We don't know." Vibe shrugged. "But we need to build a pair of extra large meta-human cuffs. It's weird how all of the evil Meta's we've come across until now have all been thin and relatively good looking."

"It's almost like they're models."

"Or just good-looking actors." Iris added.

"OK everyone who is not named Wally West please leave so I can set up the MRI." Caitlin directed everyone out of the lab so she could get to work.

A few minutes later Caitlin looked over the MRI of Wally's arm and turned back to Wally. "The good news Wally is your arm is already healing."

"I'm afraid to ask what's the bad news."

"Bad news is I have never seen anything this bad. Not even when Barry broke his arm fighting Girder. It is going to take a while to heal. Your arm was so badly broken that we may need to rebreak it several times to make sure it heals properly. The way it looks right now nothing is properly lined up." Caitlin showed him the image.

"How?" Wally asked simply knowing he would most likely not like the answer.

Caitlin offered an apologetic look. "Painfully."

* * *

Back with Barry and Godspeed the Heir of Savitar and his double were mercilessly pummeling the Flash into the dirt. There was a sense of euphoria about it.

Barry spat out blood. His entire body was sore. But Barry felt a fury inside of him. August had been lying to them all this time. It was worse than doctor Wells or Hunter. Ben damn might as well have stabbed both Barry and Caitlin in their hearts and twist the blade.

" _ **You should learn to stay down Flash"**_ Godspeed-1 said.

" _ **You'd live a lot longer**_." Godspeed number two finished

"You work for Savitar? You're his son?"

" _ **Damn right."**_

"How?"

" _ **Well Flash, when a man and a woman love each other very much**_ -" Godspeed-2 spoke in a mocking tone.

" _ **He doesn't need to know the details**_." Godspeed-1 said to his clone. " _ **But I will tell you, I am here to finish what my Father started."**_

"I mean… how can you be his son?" Barry groaned. "We trapped him in the Speed Force."

" _ **Oh, that. I'm sure the brats told you he was freed."**_

" _ **If only we took their speed**_."

" _ **Still can, by taking yours Flash**_."

"Not going to happen." Barry was back on his feet.

" _ **Oh, didn't I tell you already Flash? When we race, you won't have a choice**_." Godspeed was about to begin running when there was a flash of lightning and a roar of thunder. Barry watched as both Godspeeds clutched their heads before seemingly fuse together painfully. " _ **AAAAAHH! DAMN IT!**_ " He dropped to his knees in pain.

Despite everything Barry felt the tiniest amount of concern. "Ben… are you okay?"

"Concerned about me Flash?" Godspeed asked. His mask was gone, exposing the face of Ben. "I'm touched." He seemed to shake off his discomfort moments later. "Unfortunately, as useful as it is to be in multiple places at once it hurts after a while."

"Good." Barry charged up the lightning around his hand and threw it at Godspeed hitting him square in the chest.

Godspeed was once again on his feet clutching his chest, a golden lightning charged in his eyes before charging the Flash and grabbing him by the throat. " _ **I'd kill you where you stand Flash if I needed you alive. Instead, I am going to break you. And I know how to do it**_." Godspeed pulled Barry up close and personal. " _ **Let's go pay your fiancé a visit**_."

* * *

 **S.T.A.R. Labs, Cortex**

Once Caitlin had reset the bones in Wally's arm to the best of her ability Caitlin left Kid Flash to rest and joined the rest of the Team in the Cortex to plan their next move. She had to tell them about Ben/August.

"Where's Barry?" Iris asked beating Caitlin to her explanation. "Wasn't he with you?"

"He was. I mean…" Caitlin bit her lip and played with her ring. She took a deep breath. "We ran into Ben." Everyone in the room was silent.

"What?" Dawn asked completely shocked. "Didn't you guys say this Ben Allen was dead?"

"He was… I mean… I don't know…" Caitlin said. "But… Ben's not…"

There was a whoosh and a clap of thunder. Everyone was thrown back by the sound pressure alone. The moment Caitlin felt the sound pressure she was over come with terror for the baby growing inside her. She wrapped her arms around her stomach. Iris grabbed a hold of Caitlin to steady her.

Standing in the middle of the wrecked Medical Lab was Godspeed holding Barry by the collar of his suit. Barry was bloodied but still conscious and trying to fight off Godspeed's grip.

"Barry!" Caitlin and Iris screamed in unison.

"Godspeed." Don growled.

Barry grabbed a fist full of Godspeed's right arm and pulled. There was a ripping noise as Barry tore off a bit of a chunk of Godspeed's suit and some of the skin beneath.

"What that?" Barry and the rest of the team caught a glimpse of cold metal beneath Godspeed's arm.

" _ **Damn it."**_ Godspeed threw Barry into Cisco and Joe. Godspeed glanced down at his exposed metallic arm.

"A metal arm?" Dawn wondered aloud. Back in their time through all their battle with Godspeed they had never seen him suffer any kind of wound. Not even so much as a scratch. Somehow, he had been wounded enough to warrant a metallic arm.

Godspeed looked around as he was surrounded by The Flash, The Tornado Twins, Vibe and a wounded Kid Flash. It brought a smiled to his face. He liked the idea of taking on the entirety of Team Flash while still predominantly in its infancy.

" _ **You all want to fight**_?" Godspeed chuckled. " _ **I like that you are all so eager but I came for one thing, and one thing only."**_ He turned directly to Caitlin. " _ **Savitar thought killing Iris west would break you, but I know the truth**_."

Caitlin watched it happen in slow motion. Godspeed dropped Barry and ran towards her with his golden-white lightning flowing behind him. Barry was right behind him, but nowhere near close enough to intercept Godspeed.

Instinctively she covered her stomach with her left hand and closed her eyes. She was terrified and could not contain the tears spilling down her cheeks. She didn't know why Godspeed was heading for her, but it made her terrified, for herself, for Barry and for their baby.

Iris' arms seemed to try and tighten around Caitlin's shoulders protectively but it was far too little far too late.

Caitlin felt a pair of strong arms scoop her up from the side, immediately she felt safe and warm as she instinctively moved closer into the chest of her savior. The rush of wind in her hair was oddly soothing but the faint terrified screams of her name from her friends were the last things she heard.

* * *

This is the end of the chapter

Please tell me what you liked, didn't like, look forward to/think will happen, or your general thoughts and comments, this will help me make the story better; I'm a big boy so I can take criticism. And if you Review you get a Shout Out and questions answered either privately or in the next chapter.

Please share this with everyone you can via whatever platform of social media you want. I would love it if the whole fandom got to enjoy this story and not just the one on fanfiction.

Have a Fantastic day


	30. Warning

**Disclaimer:** The following is a nonprofit Fan based story; The FLASH and all related characters are owned by DC comics, the CW and anyone I may have missed.

Like I always seem to say to the point of redundancy (doesn't mean it's any less true) I love everyone who Reviews, Favorites and or Follows any of my stories. Again, if I didn't respond I apologize and just let me know.

Reviews: **Eliley, Guest/ZaraSwann, wilsonenmanual43, CallMeMile, changingdestiny40, Guest(2)** and **elajjanstrande**

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Hi everyone! I'm back! Sorry this took so long I ran into several issues when writing this chapter. I never liked how it was turning out and I couldn't get it to flow as well as I wanted. Not only was I hit with that pesky think known as Writer's Block. I decided I wanted to change a few things, don't worry, its nothing too major and I don't even think I have to go back to make these changes, I'll put them in a note at the beginning of the chapter where they happen. Well, there was a lot more that cape up. Flash Season 4 left me in an emotionally bad place, I disliked it a lot. Made me almost drop the series, but I am afraid I am past the sunk-cost-point.

Now, we can sit here and listen to me ramble or you guys can continue on to the chapter. It's not like you have to listen to me, these are just words on a page after all.

Thank You so much for your patience.

* * *

 _The Flash: Survival of the Fastest_

Chapter 29: Warning

* * *

 **March 12 2036**

 **Central City**

In a neighborhood in the suburbs of Central City there was a quaint house. It was a quaint little house, nearly identical to the ones surrounding it. Yet no one in this neighborhood knew the truth about who lived in that house. All they knew was that the house was owned by a kind young couple that predominantly kept to themselves. The Hearts lived here, Henry and Catherine Heart. Though to the rest of the world they were more well known by their alternate personas, Savitar and Killer Frost, two of the most wanted Meta-Humans this side of the Missouri River.

Savitar, stood in the doorway to the play room and watched his wife and daughter from behind. Savitar even allowed a smile to creep across his face.

Eight years after losing their son, Savitar and Killer Frost were about to lose hope in finding him when they learned about the pregnancy. The revelation that Killer Frost was expecting another child came as a shock to both the God of Speed and his wife as neither of them wanted to go through the horrendous experience of losing their child again. That was four years ago.

Despite their 'night jobs' the duo managed to keep the pregnancy a secret from everyone. And on May 14 2032 Samantha Nora Heart was born.

"DADDY!" The little girl cried out happily when she noticed him. "You're home."

"Of course." He said crouching down to his daughter's level. "I always come back to you and your mother."

"Welcome home." Killer Frost said with a smile tugging her lips before she gave her husband a kiss.

"How's my little princess doing?" Savitar asked his daughter Samantha as he picked her up into his arms.

The little girl gave her father a smile. "Good! Mommy and I were having a tea party!"

"Really?" He asked "would it be alright with you ladies if I joined you?"

Samantha's eyes widened in delight. "I'll go get some more tea!" She ran over to the otherside of the room to fill her teapot with invisible tea.

"She had another episode today." Killer Frost whispered to her husband.

"What happened?"

"It happened when she was drawing. Savitar… it was like she was possessed." Killer Frost's voice was quivering slightly. Whatever she saw scared her. "She drew another picture…" That caught the God of Speed's attention. Samantha was only four but due to her abilities she was developing at a slightly accelerated rate. Not only that but her connection to the Speed Force was finicky, it allowed Samantha to experience visions, visions of the past, present and future but not in any particular order and they happened at random times.

The first time Samantha had a vision her parents thought she was having a seizure. Her body shook uncontrollably, and her eyes turned pure white, charged with the familiar electrical currents from the Speed Force. At the same time her hand moved on its own resulting in her carving into her highchair three years ago. When she had finished she had passed out.

What she carved shocked both Savitar and Killer Frost, it was of Barry proposing to Caitlin Snow. She had seen deep into their pasts.

"What did she draw this time?"

Killer Frost looked over to their daughter before gesturing for her husband to follow her. Once they made it to the kitchen she pulled out a sheet of paper and passed it to the God of Speed.

He looked at the picture then to his wife. "What… What is this?"

It was a rather crude drawing, as to be expected of a four-year-old but they could make out who was in the picture. The picture showed The Flash cradling the lifeless body of Caitlin Snow. There were also a bunch of strange symbols coming out of the Flash's mouth dancing around the duo like a serpent. Savitar had seen those symbols before, during his imprisonment within the Speed Force, though he couldn't quite figure out what they were saying.

"It's my death…" Frost said with tears in her eyes. "The Flash is going to kill me."

Savitar put the picture down and cupped his wife's face. there was no possible way the Flash could kill her. Especially if Barry learns that Killer Frost is Caitlin Snow. "Hey, It's OK..." He said. "I promise you. Flash will never harm you. I can say with one hundred percent certainty he cannot touch you."

Frost shook her head tearfully. "I... I wish I could believe you..." Truth be told, ever since she woke up in Savitar's arms over a decade ago things have been odd to say the least. Mostly her memories she would see Savitar but it was strange since in some of her memories he was the Flash.

"Mommy! Daddy! The Tea is ready!" Samantha cried out from the next room. "Come on!"

"Come one Caitlin." Savitar said gently. "We have a Tea party to attend."

* * *

 **March 6 2018  
**

 **Central City Barry's Apartment**

Barry slowly opened his eyes and stared blankly at the empty half of his bed. The half Caitlin had occupied. The bed felt so much colder in the last few days than ever before. A few tears trickled down Barry's cheek as he gazed upon the empty bed. Caitlin was gone. He had no idea where she was, how she was doing or anything about their baby.

With a heavy sigh Barry sat up and ran his hands through his scraggly beard. He made his way to the bathroom and forced himself to take a cold shower. Twenty minutes later Barry gazed at his reflection with a razor in hand debating whether to shave or not. Ultimately, he chose not to.

He got dressed slowly and grabbed his bag off the floor and made his way to CCPD. Even though Caitlin was gone, he still had a job to do. Caitlin wouldn't want him to throw his entire life away because of her.

* * *

Three hours later Barry found himself staring blankly at his board. It used to be covered in anything even remotely related to the murder of Nora Allen, now it was practically empty aside from several pictures.

On the left was a picture of Godspeed and one of Ben with little red strings connected to every evil speedster they had encountered over the last year or so. There were also articles about all of August and Ben's exploits as heroes.

On the right was a rough sketch of Speed Demon. Other than that single image there was not much anyone knew about the black clad speedster. The only thing Barry was sure of was that there was some sort of connection between Speed Demon and Godspeed. And by extension there was a connection between the two speedsters and Barry and Caitlin.

This led him to the middle of the board where a picture of himself and Caitlin was pinned. Notes were all around it with only a few lines. Barry found himself staring at it just trying to figure out what it all meant.

"Hey Barry, I've got some more evidence from the…" Joe stopped when he saw the board. "Oh…"

Joe's presence snapped Barry back to reality. "Joe."

"You've been busy." Joe said looking at the board.

"Just looking for some sort of clue I must have missed." Barry sighed. "I have to find her Joe."

Joe felt like his heart was breaking for his son. Barry had been through more heartache than most people experience in their lifetimes. "We'll get her back son."

Barry looked Joe in the eye unable to hold back a single tear. "How?"

"I don't know…" Joe turned to Barry's board. "But staring at this board isn't going to help." Joe gently pushed the board out of Barry's field of view. "Come on son. We have work to do."

Barry nodded and took his dad's hand as Joe extended it to pull him back to his feet.

"Excuse me." Barry and Joe turned to see a young man standing in the doorway holding a small brown box. "I was told I could find a Mr. Barry Allen in here." He said reading the name on the package.

"That's me." Barry said as he got up to meet the delivery man half way.

"I have uh, I have a package for you." He handed the box to Barry and pulled a scanner off of his hip. "Just need you to sign here."

"Of course." Barry scribbled his name and briefly made eye contact with the delivery man. "Do I know you?" Barry asked a little confused. "I feel like we've met before."

"Not unless you've had more than this package delivered." The man responded. He handed Barry the package. "Alright, now that that is taken care of I must be on my way. The life of a Bike Courier never ends." With a small smile the delivery man turned around and left Barry's lab leaving Barry and Joe alone once again.

"I didn't order anything…" Barry said eyeing the package. That was when he noticed the return address, it was addressed from the loft he and Caitlin were living in.

"You need a minute?" Joe asked catching a glimpse of the parcel. Barry nodded silently. "OK, you do what you gotta do." Joe said before leaving Barry in his lab.

Barry took the parcel and sat at his desk. For a moment to contemplated just throwing the thing out but was curious as to why it was addressed from their loft. Steeling himself Barry opened the parcel revealing a box. After opening it Barry sat with a tiny flash drive in his hand, but it was not a normal flash drive. This one was identical to the flash drive he had received from Thawne when he needed the Reverse-Flash's help to beat Zoom. There was only one place Barry could go in order to access whatever was inside and in a flash of yellow electricity Barry was gone.

* * *

 **S.T.A.R. Labs**

Dawn and Don Allen had just returned from their last patrol of the city. It had been eerily quiet for the last three weeks, ever since Godspeed's revelation. Each day they watched their mom and dad from a distance. There was no way they could deny that this was all their fault. Caitlin Snow was taken and they didn't even try to save her. Though they didn't want to admit it, a small part of them hoped that with Dr. Snow out of the way there was nothing stopping Barry and Iris from getting together.

"What do you think?" Dawn asked her brother.

"I don't know." Don replied. "This whole ordeal is insane. I mean, Mom's married to the Reverse-Flash's ancestor, and Dad is engaged to a woman speedster we have never heard of until recently."

"I mean what do you think we should do?"

"What can we do?" Don asked his sister. "She's gone, and we don't know where he took her?" Dawn knew what her twin was thinking. "Time will take it's natural course now."

"Don… we cannot just leave Dr. Snow to whatever fate has planned for her. It would break Dad."

"And supposed we even could get her back." Don fired back. "That mean's we won't be born making us Time Remnants and targets of HIM!" Don grunted. "Dad is supposed to be with mom. That is how it always should be." Don was clearly frustrated while Dawn was conflicted. All she really wanted was for their dad to be happy. If there was one thing she vaguely remembered about their father it was that he was hardly genuinely happy.

"Don, just use that caveman brain of yours and think for a minute. Can you honestly say Dad was happy?"

"Yes." Don replied without a second thought. "How could you say that."

Dawn was quiet for moment. "Everything changed when Dad crossed paths with Killer Frost." She said. "And when she died he just... shattered." Dawn thought back to how affected there dad was after that day, they were young, about eight, but the young West-Allen daughter could say with certainty that their father smiled less after that day. She couldn't even remember his laugh. "The way he smiled with Dr Snow... its completely different." At this point they had nothing as to where Caitlin was, at least until Dawn got an idea. In a flash of violet lightning she was in her street clothes and on her way out of the Cortex.

"Where are you going?" Don asked his sister

"To find Dr. Snow." Dawn replied. "There's only one person in this time who might have an Idea about where we can find her."

"And who would that be?"

"Gideon."

* * *

 **Central City**

 **August 22 2036**

Catherine Heart sighed as she left the hospital where she worked, today had been a long day and she was glad it was done. She was looking forward to spending the evening with her daughter. To be honest with herself Samantha's growing powers frightened Catherine Heart. The other day Samantha had another episode in which she drew a new picture that Catherine did not quite understand. It was an image of a man in a white and gold suit, behind him was her husband and her. The timing could not be worse since tomorrow was their son's birthday. The same child that has been missing for the last sixteen years. It absolutely broke Catherine's heart. When she was pregnant she so many hopes and dreams for the child she shared with her husband. She wanted him to grow up to be a hero, like his father.

"Watch out!" Catherine looked up just in time to see a teenager on a bicycle swerve away from her before catching a root and flipping over and sliding along the sidewalk.

"Are you OK?" She asked as she approached the young man. "I'm a doctor." She froze slightly when she got a good look at him. He looked a lot like her husband aside from his eyes and maybe his mouth, also his short black hair.

"I'm OK." The teenager said before grunting in pain clutching his wrist.

"Here, let me see it." Catherine took his hand and gently. She looked it over and found bruising on his right wrist. "Looks like you fractured your wrist."

"Oh geeze..." He sighed. "There goes my pitching career."

"Come with me." She said as she took his left hand and helped him to his feet. "I work at the hospital a block over. I can get an x-ray and at least a brace for your wrist."

"Sounds good." The teenager said. "But could we make this quick? I have a package I need to deliver."

"Once we're all set you should be able to go right back to work." Catherine said as they walked back the way she came. "By the way, I am Dr. Catherine Heart." She introduces herself. "What's you name?"

"Charlie." The teenager said. "Charlie McGrath."

About a half hour later they Charlie sat on an examination table while giving Catherine some required information.

"You live around here Charlie?" Catherine asked.

"Uh, no." He said simply. "I'm from Happy Harbor Rhode Island. Lived there my whole life. I'm just visiting Central City, checking out colleges."

"How'd you come to be a bike messenger?"

"It's a summer job." Charlie replied. "My family and I typically stay here in Central City for the summer."

"That sounds lovely." She said. "Alright I'll be right back with your x-ray."

"Thank You."

Catherine was back with his x-ray within a few minutes. "Alright the good news is the break in your wrist isn't that bad. You'll just have to wear a brace for the next two weeks."

"Any bad news?"

"No bad news." Catherine said with a smile. "You're free to go."

"Thank You Dr. Heart." Charlie said smiling back at her before he left.

Catherine watched him leave and as he did her smile dropped as she observed him. It could not be a coincidence that he looked so much like her and Savitar. And to meet him here so close to their son's birthday. She had to learn more about him. find out who he was. Especially if he could be their missing son.

* * *

 **Present Day**

 **Time Vault**

Dawn West-Allen stood in front of the AI from the future. She should have all the answers. "Hello Gideon."

- **Good Morning Dawn West-Allen-** Gideon responded and Dawn smiled. Her access to Gideon had not been altered. When Barry created Gideon he gave Dawn, Iris Don and Cisco equal levels of access as he, the creator had. It had really helped them all out in several pinches.

"Gideon, Can you share any information regarding Dr. Caitlin Snow?" She asked

- **Of Course-** The holographic face was replaced with several news articles until she saw one:

 _May 12 2018_

 _Local Bio-Engineer Missing for Three Months presumed Dead_

"Gideon is there anything regarding a Female Flash? Exclude anything involving The Tornado Twins and anything on March 13 2019."

- **Zero References Found** -

Dawn ran a hand through her hair. "Gideon, can you pull up a picture of Killer Frost." Immediately she was face to face Carla Tanhauser's mugshot, that was not what Dawn wanted. "Ok... Can you pull up a picture of Killer Frost from 2036?" This time a different Picture of Killer Frost came up right next to it was a Newspaper article.

 _October 19 2036_

 _Killer Frost Killed by The Flash_

 _Iris West-Allen_

Dawn didn't bother to read the article she knew the gist of it. That was the day everything changed. "Gideon, pull up the most recent picture of Caitlin Snow you have. I want to run a side by side comparison of the two." Sure enough the AI pulled up Caitlin's photo putting it side by side with Killer Frost-2036. "Run facial recognition." It only took two seconds for Gideon to complete the Facial Recognition.

- **100% Match-** Gideon said. - **It appears that Dr Caitlin Snow is Killer Frost. Though I must add both images also match the last known photo of Dr. Catherine Heart-**

"What the hell happened to her?" Dawn asked herself. "Gideon, show me any and all information related to Killer Frost-2036." Dozens of photos and articles popped up Dawn absorbed all the information she could at high speed. There was not much of anything but one article caught her attention. "Gideon stop!"Gideon paused on the article Dawn had just seen.

 _January 20 2032_

 _Breakthrough Discovered in Treatment of Childhood Cancer_

The article talked about how a local scientist had found away to greatly impact if not completely remove cancer cells in children. and her picture looked eerily similar to Caitlin aside from her blue eyes and the several streaks of white in her hair and also the large belly. According to the picture her name was Catherine Heart Nee Frost. Digging further Dawn strived to discover all she could about this woman.

"Could this woman be Dr. Snow?" Dawn asked.

- **It is possible-**

"That would mean she's trapped in the future with no memory of who she is." Dawn was formulating a hypothesis. "Wait... her last name is Heart. Like August Heart." Realization crossed her face. "Oh my god... August really is their son..."

The sound of the door to the Time Vault opening snapped Dawn out of her train of thought immediately she shut down what she was doing. just as Barry walked in. "Oh, hi Dad..." She said sheepishly

"Hi," Barry's single word was met with an awkward silence. "Uh, what brings you here?" He asked.

"Just, doing some research." She said. "To try and find Dr. Snow." She added. There was no point to keep it from him. She had to let him know she was trying to help.

"Really? What did you find?" Barry inquired.

"Not sure yet, but I might have a clue." Dawn answered. "I have to dig a little deeper, but August might know something."

"I might need to have a chat with him in that case, Thanks Dawn." Barry was genuinely grateful she was trying to help. He even embraced her in a hug as a way of saying thanks.

"So uh, what brings you here dad?" She asked.

"I got this in the mail." He said holding up a small futuristic flash drive. "I don't know how or why but this is from Caitlin."

"So you need Gideon to access it."

"Yeah,"

"Do you want me to be here?" Dawn asked.

Barry was quiet for a moment. "I think I could use another person here."

Dawn offered up a smile. "Ok." She stood just behind her father allowing him to do what he needed.

Barry walked to the pedestal within Thawne's old Time Vault. Barry plugged the flash drive into the pedestal and was greeted with a holographic screen. It was a video, a video that brought Barry face to face with a video recording of Caitlin. Joy swelled in Barry's heart at the sight of his fiancé. He took in every feature moments before she spoke.

" _Hi Barry."_ She said with a smile. Barry knew all to well that this was a sad smile. Caitlin's cheeks were slightly wet and her eyes were red and puffy. She looked like she wasn't sleeping either, as the evidence beneath her eyes showed. " _I guess I should cut right to the chase…"_ Caitlin sighed. " _Before you freak out me and our baby… we… we are safe…"_ Caitlin seemed to sniffle a little bit. _"God, I wish I got the chance to say good bye, tell you 'I love you' one more time, or for you to be there for our baby, but… He… he's a monster unlike anything we've faced before. You'd be no match for him even with the help from all of our friends."_ Barry felt something akin to anger boiling inside of him as he watched Catlin struggle to hold back tears. How dare he make Caitlin cry. " _Please… if you come for me, you'll all just end up throwing away your lives… and I could never live with myself if that were to happen. I've lost so much I don't know if I can lose you Barry. I guess what I want… no what I need to say is this…_ _"_ Barry sat there flabbergasted. How could Caitlin not have faith in him? How could she not want him to come for her? Then again when ever Caitlin had been kidnapped in the past she was very adamant that Barry doesn't rescue her. Heck in most of those situations she'd managed to get herself out of trouble or Cisco managed to get to her. Honestly Barry felt his anger boiling but he could not figure out where to direct it. At Caitlin for her lack of faith? No, he couldn't do that to her. At himself for his inability to protect her? A little. Barry found that most of his rage was on Speed Demon. The monster who abducted Caitlin and was doing god knows what to her and their baby. Anger swelled up inside Barry and in a fury, he punched the wall, several times, before putting a hole into it. Barry paused and looked down at his bleeding hand which had jagged pieces of metal sticking out of it.

"Dad!"

"Damn it…" he whispered to himself.

* * *

 **February 13 2018  
**

 **S.T.A.R. Labs**

 _Godspeed let go of him and ran for Caitlin. Barry urged his body to move but it was not listening to him. It was almost like his body didn't want to save Caitlin. He watched as Iris's grip on Caitlin's shoulder tightened while his fiancé moved a hand to protect her stomach._

 _From Barry's perspective it seemed as if for every step forward he took Godspeed moved ten and he moved thirty backward. He just could not close the gap between them. All he could do was share one terrified look with Caitlin before she closed her eyes. That was when it happened._

 _Milliseconds before Godspeed reached Caitlin there was a light and an intense heat. A black figure cloaked in fire came out of nowhere grabbing Godspeed by the neck of his suit and driving him headfirst into one of the monitors._

 _Barry, along with Godspeed, was frozen in shock at the sight of the newcomer, Speed Demon. Without seemingly breaking a stride Speed Demon ran for Caitlin and scooped her into his arms bridal style._

 _He looked at Godspeed who was barely getting up and then turned to Barry. The Flash felt like Speed Demon's fiery gaze bored into his soul. An instant later Speed Demon was gone, taking Caitlin with him leaving only a scorched floor and a trail of crackling black lightning._

" _CAITLIN!" Barry screamed her name to empty air as the world caught up to him and Godspeed._

" _What?!" Iris asked shocked._

 _Everyone was trying to figure out what had just happened but quickly they all fell unto Godspeed who was still on the ground._

" _No…" Godspeed groaned as he pushed himself back up. "No, no, no, no no…"_

 _Immediately Cisco blasted him pining the white clad speedster to the ground. "What did you just do to Caitlin?" He demanded._

 _Godspeed didn't respond instead he gave team Flash a smirk. While still restrained by Cisco's power Wally and Don Grabbed him by his shoulders and an instant later Kid Flash and Don had thrown Godspeed into one of the specially designed cells._

 _Barry just stood in the middle of Caitlin's lab completely shell-shocked. Sure, they caught Godspeed, but Caitlin was gone. His fiancé was gone. The love of his life was gone. The mother of his child was gone. His child was gone._

 _Speed Demon just did what no other villain was able to do, completely break Barry._

* * *

 **Medical Lab**

Barry sat on the gurney while Iris wrapped his hand. "You need to be more careful Barry. I'm no where near as good at patching you up as Caitlin is…"

"You're doing fine." Barry reassured her. "Besides my hand will be ready to go in about an hour anyway."

Iris felt horrible seeing her best friend like this. "Mind if I sit with you?" She asked. "Listen Barry… I know your hurt… but you can't-"

"She told me not to save her." Barry said. "I don't know how she did it but Caitlin managed to get a message to us."

"Barry..."

"How could she say that..." Barry wanted to cry.

"It's because she's worried about you Barry." Iris wrapped her arm around her best friend. "She can't bare the thought of anything bad happening to you."

"So what? I'm supposed to sit here and do nothing?" Barry retorted. "Iris… I have to get her back. I need to get her back."

"And we will Barry." She assured him. "Everyone is utilizing everything we have at our disposal to try and locate her."

 **Cortex**

Cisco put on his goggles and touched Caitlin's lab coat for the third time that day. Everyday for the last three weeks he'd been trying to vibe his best friend but wasn't having too much luck. He'd get glimpses of her but they offered him no information at all.

 _Cisco found himself standing in what looked like Caitlin's Lab, he couldn't be too sure. She was sleeping peacefully and looked to be completely unharmed. It was so different to when she was kidnapped by Zoom. Back then Cisco saw her frightened, tired and malnourished. Here she looked like everything was alright._

 _"Cait-" He tired to call out her name but a strong hand grabbed him by the neck and lifted him up._

Next thing Cisco knew he was being thrown across the cortex violently.

"Cisco!" Wally was beside him in an instant. "You OK? What just happened?"

Cisco rubbed his head where it had whacked the floor. "I… I vibed Caitlin. More-so than before."

"And?"

"I don't know… Something threw me out of my vibe." Cisco said rubbing his neck.

"That must have been Speed Demon." Don said. "We know he's the one who took Dr. Snow, but we just don't know where or when."

"I think Ben once mentioned Speed Demon is tethered to his original time." Wally said.

"That may be true, but we have no idea when that Speed Demon is from. We know so little about him we can only roughly guess when he took her nevermind where. And by rough guess we mean at least a fifty year time frame for his origination point. We miss that point and Dr. Snow could either not be there or she could have aged dramatically." Dawn explained.

"OK, but we still don't even know why he took her." Joe spoke up. "If he wanted to kill her, he would have-" Joe stopped when he saw Barry and Iris entering the cortex. "I mean you have to think there's a reason for all of this."

"There is no reason with Speed Demon." Don said. "He is malevolence made flesh. Just pure rage, destruction and death."

"But-" Dawn started but she suddenly had a different thought. "There was something about her message." Dawn said thinking hard.

"What do you mean." Cisco asked. Dawn had shared the fact Caitlin had somehow sent them a message, though she did not disclose any of the information on it since it was for Barry and no one else.

"How did Caitlin get us a message?" Barry reiterated the question out loud.

"There has to be some kind of clue in that message." Dawn said. "Some hint as to where it came from."

"The return address was our loft." Barry said "but it wasn't postmarked. It didn't go through the proper delivery system."

"That bike courier." Joe said. "He has to be involved! If he delivered that package directly to you he had to sign in at the precinct."

"I think it might be best if we all listen to the message." Iris said speaking up. "Maybe fresh eyes and ears might pick something up." She turned to Barry looking for reassurance to which he nodded.

"Agreed." Barry said. "It might be cramped but I think everyone can fit in the time Vault."

"So what now?" Wally asked "Even if we find out where Caitlin is Speed Demon has shown us multiple times he's no joke.

Barry spoke up quickly. "Get a message to The Legends, It would be safer to time travel with a time ship, also contact Oliver. And Kara. We're going to need all the help we can get." Barry turned to make his way out of the cortex.

"Wait where are you going?" Joe asked

Barry stopped. "Like I said, to get Caitlin back we are going to need all the help we can get." He thought about what Dawn had said. August, or rather Ben knows something.

* * *

 **The Pipeline**

While the rest of the team was busy dissecting Caitlin's message Barry found himself standing on the other side of the glass that separated him from Godspeed It wasn't too long ago they were in the same situation what with Barry locking Ben up following their first interaction. It pained Barry that his first impression was correct.

Godspeed, stared back at Barry with the face of Ben. "Took you long enough to visit me Flash. I didn't think you had it in you to meet me face to face." Barry kept silent. "You know, this kind of reminds me of our original meeting pops."

Barry clenched his fists in anger. He took a deep breath before he opened his mouth to talk "I don't want to be here any longer than I have to." Barry said quietly. "I'm here because I need your help to save Caitlin.

"And why would I do that?" Godspeed asked. "I thought I was clear that I've been against you from the beginning. Did you hit your head before coming here?"

"You said you had your memories altered to better sell your 'lie'" Barry said. "But your DNA test shows you are my son." Barry looked at Ben when he said that. "There's no way a transmogrifier can alter DNA."

"That is correct." Ben said. "It is quite nice that I don't have to keep up with the charade anymore, get to the point Flash."

"I believe there's still good in you. You said so yourself. Your memories were altered. Who's to say 'Ben' is who you really are and this is the charade." Ben seemed annoyed by the comment. "Some part of you had to care about us as much as Caitlin and I cared about you."

"Maybe." Godspeed said leaning against his cell wall. "That could very well be the case. However, if I did know, I most certainly would not tell you."

"I don't believe that Ben." Barry replied. "I truly believe that, despite whatever you say, you are my son and… I want to help you."

"Help me?" Ben asked in a mocking tone before he started chuckling. "How exactly can you help me? You don't even know me! You have no idea about all the shit I've been through."

"True, but that's because you won't open up."

Ben got up and stood in front of the glass separating him from the Flash. "You may be biologically my father Flash but you were never there." He seemed to seethe. "The only one who tried to help me was Savitar. He's more of my father than you ever could be. I'm surprised you haven't been able to put everything together yet Flash. Why all of this is happening. "

"So is that why Dawn and Don call you the Heir of Savitar?" Godspeed was silent for a moment before responding.

"Yes and no." he said. "For the longest time I didn't know who I was, and I was nearly driven mad trying to achieve the impossible until I met Savitar." Barry listened. "He took me in. treated me as if I was his son. He even promised to give me what I truly wanted."

"Which is?"

"It's pointless to even try to explain it Flash. You cannot possibly comprehend what I feel or lack thereof."

"This is a waste of time." Barry turned around and began to walk away. "I thought you wanted to be a hero. And I was offering you the chance to do what I've always wanted. Save your mom."

Godspeed was silent and just before Barry hit the button to close off the pipeline he started to laugh. "Hahahaha! You want me to help save her from Speed Demon? Hahaha! You really don't know what's going on here." Barry stopped and looked up. "See, I know how your stories end Flash. I am your greatest failure. If you let me out I can promise you Dr. Snow will be dead in your arms. Wouldn't be the first time."

"What do you mean?"

"Ask your kids."

* * *

This is the end of the chapter

Please tell me what you liked, didn't like, look forward to/think will happen, or your general thoughts and comments, this will help me make the story better; I'm a big boy so I can take criticism. And if you Review you get a Shout Out and questions answered either privately or in the next chapter.

Please share this with everyone you can via whatever platform of social media you want. I would love it if the whole fandom got to enjoy this story and not just the one on fanfiction.

Have a Fantastic day


	31. Strangers

**Disclaimer:** The following is a nonprofit Fan based story; The FLASH and all related characters are owned by DC comics, the CW and anyone I may have missed.

Hi everyone! I'm back! (Again). I definitely sound like a broken record because of how long it is taking me to write these chapters but in all honestly, it's because it feels like I am being told the story by the characters. They want me to tell the whole thing but to be completely honest it is long and epic! I might make a third part turning this into a trilogy. No matter what I do after this the finale I know will be epic.

As I usually do special shout outs to all of you who Reviewed, favorited and followed and of course I have to that everyone who read this story even though I have no way of knowing who you are.

Thank You so much for your patience.

* * *

 _The Flash: Survival of the Fastest_

Chapter 30: Strangers

* * *

"What did Godspeed mean when he said Caitlin will be dead in my arms?" Barry demanded as he stormed into the Cortex. Everyone could tell he was directing his question at Dawn and Don. Eyes were shifting all over the cortex, no one knew who should speak first.

"Could we get a moment," Dawn tenderly spoke.

"Come on Eddie." Iris said gently guiding her husband out of the Cortex and practically screaming at her Father and Cisco to follow with her eyes alone.

"Dad… listen…" Dawn spoke quietly choosing each word deliberately. "That is knowledge of the future we cannot tell you."

"Why not?" Barry demanded. "Godspeed already told me I will be holding her dead body! And we have already been successful in changing the future before! If we hadn't, Iris would be dead!"

"Maybe we should tell him." Don said. Unlike his sister he believed this might give their father closure with Doctor Snow allowing him to move on. "In the future, where we are from, well it's hard to say since no one knows for sure what happened, but all we know is you went out to confront Killer Frost one day and, well, Cisco arrived only to find you cradling the deceased body of Dr. Snow."

"Whatever happened that night" Dawn cut in. "it changed you Dad. You barely talked after that, hardly went out in the field anymore. Uncle Wally basically had to become the Flash overnight."

"Who killed Caitlin in the future?" Barry asked.

"We don't know dad…" Dawn responded. "You were the only one there and you never spoke of that night."

"When was it?" The Flash asked.

"August 23, 2038." Dawn answered quietly.

* * *

 **August 23, 2036**

 **Heart Residence**

Catherine Heart sat at her desk with her laptop. Ever since she met that boy yesterday her head had been filled with questions. She had tried to find him on all the social media sites but those she did find him on it turned out he wasn't active all that much. All those gave her was a glimpse into some of the things Charlie liked. That and his hair seemed to shift between black and brown as if it were dyed.

There were also some pictures of his family. Just a small family of four, his mother a beautiful woman with raven colored hair, his father he seemed older brown hair cut military style while sporting a beard, and an older brother, who must have been about three years older than him. What caught Catherine's attention is that neither Charlie nor his older brother looked like their parents. While the two 'brothers' looked sort of similar there were obvious differences. The older of the two had wavier hair while Charlie's was straight and he had light freckles where Charlie had none.

"Who are you?" She asked herself aloud for the umpteenth time. "Why do you seem so familiar to me?" It could not be a coincidence that she would meet a young man who looked strikingly like her and Savitar on the sixteenth anniversary of her son's birth. Well not only that but She felt like they had met before, a long time ago.

"Cait?" She heard her husband call out her name. Quickly she closed out of her tab and responded to her husband.

"In here!"

A moment later Savitar entered the room. Almost immediately he noticed something off with his wife. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." She said. "Why do you ask?"

"You were just biting your lip." He said as he sat on the edge of her desk. "Usually that means something's bothering you."

"Really Barry I'm fine…" She said.

Savitar sighed. Despite his desire to not be called that name Killer Frost was the only one he allowed to call him Barry, though in public she'd call him either Savitar or Henry. "You're thinking about our son again, aren't you?"

"Even though it's been sixteen years I just feel like… I don't know… I just know he's out there."

"I know Cait… but it's been sixteen years. I think it might be time we let go."

"I know but… yesterday, I don't think it was a mere coincidence, I ran into someone." Caitlin said catching her husband's attention. "He looked remarkably like you," Savitar flinched thinking Caitlin was talking about his younger self. "except he had my eyes."

"Who?" Savitar asked curiously.

Catherine never got to respond because of a roar of thunder followed by several rapid heavy knocks on their door followed by three words that changed their lives forever.

"COME ON OUT!"

* * *

 **Unknown Time and Place**

Caitlin felt a soft hand brush several strands of her hair away from her face. "Stop…" She mumbled into her pillow.

"Can't help myself Cait. You are just so beautiful in the morning." Barry replied making Caitlin smile to herself.

"That's sweet but I want to go back to sleep." Caitlin groaned. She nestled into her pillow but before she could fall asleep she heard the creaking of their door open and the tiny pitter patter of little feet trying to silently creep to their bed.

"Our son is awake." Barry whispered to her.

"Before noon he's your son." Caitlin mumbled back. She tried to ignore the rustling of a small child climbing into their bed but when the little boy snuggled right between them she could only smile. Reaching out she wrapped her arms around the boy and held him close.

"Morning Mommy." He said quietly.

"Morning baby." Caitlin replied before kissing his forehead.

"Hey that's not fair." Barry pouted.

"It's not my fault he's a momma's boy." Caitlin argued as she pulled their son a little tighter. "Isn't that right?"

Their son flashed Barry and Caitlin a partially toothy grin. "Yep."

"Awe, my two boys." Caitlin said as Barry pulled her and their son closer. "I could stay like this forever."

"But mommy, it's time to wake up."

Caitlin blinked, slightly confused.

"Wake up mommy." Against her wishes the world went dark until Caitlin couldn't see or hear her boys anymore.

Caitlin slowly opened her eyes and immediately noticed she was not in her bedroom, and this was not her bed. "What?" She looked around frantically. "Where am I?" She was met with silence. She sat up and got a good look at the room she was in.

That was when she noticed her belly. It was larger than before. For a moment she stared at it blankly trying to figure out what was happening. Just by judging the size it looked like she was around seven months which should not be the case.

"What?" She was at a complete loss for words when she felt the baby kick much to her surprise. She couldn't help but to smile when she felt it. This was the first time she felt the baby actually move. "Oh my god!" She said with glee. "You kicked!" She felt another kick. "If only your daddy could feel you kick." That thought caused her smile to drop. Caitlin looked up from her belly to get her bearings.

She was resting in the medical lab she had known for so long. Several wires were connected to her monitoring her vitals which were visible on the nearby monitor. She even had several IV bags hooked up and connected to an IV in her arm providing her with nutrients from what she could see.

"Oh!" Caitlin turned to see a young beautiful brown-haired woman not too far from her. "You're awake!" Immediately she rushed over to Caitlin.

"Who-" Caitlin never got to ask the question.

"Eyes reacting normally to light. Pulse slightly elevated, but that's to be expected." The woman said as she put her pocket flashlight away and glanced at the monitors.

"Where? Where am I?" Caitlin asked "Who are you?"

"Jen." The newly named Jen answered. "And you are currently in S.T.A.R. Labs."

"What?" Caitlin definitely did not recognize this woman, she did not work at S.T.A.R. Labs.

"And to answer your follow up question, No, I do not work at S.T.A.R. Labs." Jen anticipated. "It's far more complicated than it looks." She looked over several notes. "Also, your baby is fine. Though I recommend you take it easy for the next few days."

Caitlin tossed the blankets aside and swung her legs over the side of the gurney. Quickly she disconnected the wires and IV yet she still took it slowly.

"Oh no no no no no." Jen placed a hand on Caitlin's shoulder. "We can't have you going anywhere yet. "You're still recovering."

"Recovering? Recovering from what?"

"Well, just after you were brought here, you nearly had a miscarriage." That word was followed by a deafening silence as it just floated there. That word frightened Caitlin. How could she have almost had a miscarriage.

"I… I almost miscarried?" She asked not believing it.

"Yeah, you dangerously close." She said allowing the gravity of the situation to sink in. "We almost lost you… your heart stopped, several times."

That scared Caitlin a lot more. "What?" if her heart stopped was that going to have any adverse effects on the baby? "My baby…"

"Is fine." Jen responded. "But like I said it would be best if you stay in bed for the next few hours." She glanced down at her tablet. "If you'll ever excuse me, I have to go make sure Charlie doesn't hurt himself." Jen turned to leave the room.

"Charlie?" Catlin asked confused but Jen had already left the med bay.

There was a slight chill in the air, enough to make Caitlin shiver slightly and rub her shoulders. She looked down at her stomach and gently rubbed it as well, it felt like the baby was getting restless, despite its miniscule development.

"It's okay baby." She whispered. "We're going to be okay." So long as her baby was safe Caitlin just knew everything would be fine. "We're in S.T.A.R. Labs, but… where is everyone?" She asked her baby, "Why is this place so…empty?"

"I still think this was a bad idea." Caitlin heard as she stood up. The voice that was currently speaking sounded a lot like Harry, only it was not nearly as condescending. "Just her being here threatens the very fabric of the space time continuum."

"What was I supposed to do?" The sound of another man asked. "Let Godspeed kidnap her?"

"YOU kidnapped her!" Jen fired back. "She was supposed to be taken! Remember?"

"Yeah, but…"

"Jennifer is right Charlie. Your reckless actions have put us all in danger." Not-so-Harry said. "I know how much you want to get revenge on Godspeed but this is not the way."

"Oh? And what is the way?" Charlie replied. "The bastard took so much from each of us!"

Caitlin entered in the cortex but only saw two people. One of them was Jen, who she easily recognized and the other, well, she recognized him as well.

"You!?" Caitlin spoke drawing the attention of both Charlie and Jen.

"You're awake! Wait, shouldn't you be resting?" Charlie asked

Jen sighed. "I told her to."

Caitlin found herself staring face to face with Charlie McGrath, the young man she had met what must have been hours ago when they ran into each other. Instinctively she recoiled from him.

"What is going on here?" She demanded.

"I believe I can answer that Dr. Snow." Caitlin heard the voice of Harrison Wells once again. Jennifer, be a good lass and give me a hand."

What Caitlin saw nearly made her lose her lunch and pass out at once. Jen was standing there holding the severed head of Harrison Wells. But it's what happened after that really freaked her out.

"Hello there." The severed head said. Well he wasn't quite the same as the Harry Caitlin knew. For starters he had long shaggy brown hair alongside a rather full beard of the same color. The biggest difference was his eyes, instead of the steely blue she knew they were gold almost as if crystal.

Dr. Snow had no recollection of her scream at seeing the talking head in front of her but the next thing she knew Charlie and Jen were trying to calm her down.

Charlie held out his hands trying to reassure her. "Look Dr. Snow you really need to calm down, stress isn't good for your baby." Caitlin froze. "Relax Dr. Snow. No one here is going to hurt you."

"Relax? How can I relax when I am in the future with a man I hardly know, and a talking severed head? And for the record you are the one causing my stress!"

"Touché." Charlie replied. "But, in my defense, this was the only way to protect you and ensure time's proper course."

" **cough… cough…** _bullshit…_ **cough"** The head of Harrison Wells coughed rather loudly and obviously.

"Are you trying to say something head?" Charlie asked rather crudely.

"Well, now that you mention it, yes I would like to properly introduce myself to the Doctor." He cleared what was left of his throat. "It's a pleasure to meet you Dr. Snow. My name is Johnathan Wells, but you can call me Johnny. I'd offer up a hand shake but as you can see from my current predicament that is rather impossible."

"You… you're…"

"A talking severed head? Yes." Jen stepped in.

"How?" Was all Caitlin could ask.

"It is quite the long story… but the short of it is-"

"I removed his head." Charlie paused before adding. "At his request."

"Way to take the fun out of a good story." Johnny Wells grumbled.

Caitlin ran her hands through her hair barely able to comprehend what was happening. She felt her breathing and heart rate escalate. Too many questions were formulating in her head until she had to ask the first one that came into her head.

"Just where the hell am I?" She asked no one in particular.

She noticed Charlie and Jen exchange looks between themselves and with the head of Johnny Wells. "This may be tough for you to process Dr. Snow but you need to understand I brought you here for your own good. You're probably aware you are no longer in your time period. To save both you and your baby, I brought you here."

"Where. Is. Here?" Caitlin emphasized each word with bits of anger slipping into each

"The Date today is May 24 2044." Johnny said in a somber tone.

Caitlin was twenty-six years in the future. "What?" she asked herself aloud. "That's… no…no, no, no…" She began to repeat that two-letter word to herself like a mantra. She had to be dreaming. There was no way she was suddenly a quarter of a century in the future.

Caitlin paused for a moment, kind of ignoring what Charlie, Jen and Johnny were saying. She had to get back to Barry. She had to return to her time. Before she let Charlie speak another word she took off leaving a wake of blue lightning ignoring the sound of the three people calling out to her.

Barry, had warned her regarding the dangers of time travel, as he had done it multiple times both intentionally and accidentally, and the Speed Force never liked Time Travel regardless of the circumstances. But this was her going back to her own time, surly the Speed Force would allow her to do that. Honestly, she had no idea as she had never attempted to travel through time before. She let the energy inside her flow through as she pushed herself to get faster and faster until she was lapping around Central City. She smiled to herself when a blue portal opened in front of her.

But before she could reach it she felt a hand on her shoulder and immediately she was scooped up and suddenly no longer moving. Charlie had caught her.

"I'm sorry about this Dr. Snow." He said. "But I cannot let you leave." An instant later Caitlin and her companion were gone in a crackle of blue and black lightning.

Caitlin found herself back in the S.T.A.R. Labs medical bay. She felt weak, far weaker than she probably should. "What? What did you do?"

"I wouldn't move so much. You're still recovering." Charlie said gently. "Come with me." He took her hand and led her back to the bed and made her sit in it.

"I can recover when I am home." Caitlin argued.

"I'm really sorry Dr. Snow but I cannot allow you to return home." Charlie counter argued. "even if you could, going back would result in you losing your baby."

"Wha-?" Caitlin froze in fear moving a hand to protect her stomach. "No matter what you do to me, you won't harm my baby."

"Hey! Hey! Hey!" Charlie held out his hands defensively. "No one here is going to hurt you or your baby. In fact, it is quite imperative that both you and your baby remain safe. That's why I brought you here despite the risks, this is the only way to save you."

"What are you talking about?" She demanded defensively

"Oh you know. Typical timey whimy risks." He said scrunching his face. "Because of that you're going to be here for a while so I suggest you make yourself comfortable."

"My friends will come for me." Caitlin said. She noticed Charlie smile at that comment.

"I am counting on it." His smile dropped when both of them felt the earth shake. "Aw damnit." Charlie groaned.

"Charlie, you've got to move it!" Jen called out to him. "Colossus is back!"

"I've got to run Dr. Snow. But I promise when I get back I'll explain everything I can." Charlie gave her one last smirk before vanishing in a flash of blue and black lightning and a deafening rumble of thunder. Leaving Caitlin to stare completely shocked by the color of his lightning.

"Black lightning?" Caitlin asked herself only partially realizing who exactly Charlie was, and it frightened her even more.

* * *

 **Present Day**

 **S.T.A.R. Labs, Pipeline**

Godspeed sat in his cell thinking. It was all he could really do at this point after he basically sent Barry to confront the Tornado Twins regarding everything they are hiding. Truth be told that conversation could have gone a different way. He half expected The Flash to try and convince him to help them rescue Caitlin from Speed Demon. Her abduction was quite the monkey wrench in his plans. He needed her, or rather he needed the baby growing inside her. The silence of the Particle Accelerator was only slightly irritating, it did nothing for him. All it did was allow him quiet contemplation, back to when he first encountered the self-proclaimed 'God of Speed,' Savitar, back when he was only sixteen.

* * *

 **August 23 2036**

"It's no use hiding anymore!" Godspeed called out as he paced the front porch of the house, clad in street attire as there was no reason to wear his iconic suit. "I know who you are! Or should I say I know _What_ you are!" A moment later the door opened and Godspeed found himself face to face with a man he only knew from second hand accounts. "Huh…" He said "I thought you'd be taller, but you're definitely the one."

"What do you want?"

"I believe you already know the answer to that."

"You have made a mistake." The man said turning around to reenter his house. "You should move on."

Godspeed chuckled "And I though _Gods_ were supposed to be, oh what's the word? Enlightened!" The Man froze midstride. "You're _So much better than us mortals, so much smarter_ , but all I see is a pathetic coward."

The man walked the two steps between them and glared down at Godspeed. "Are you looking for a fight?" he questioned.

"I think I am, and I hope it gets bloody." Godspeed said before striking him across the face.

Henry didn't even flinch. Instead he looked angry as his face flickered revealing a nasty looking scar on the right side of his face. "Leave. My. Home." He said menacingly.

Godspeed glared back at him. "No, The only way I'm leaving is in a body bag." He began punching the man several times until he caught Godspeed's fist.

"I warned you."

"Hehehe." Godspeed chuckled before suddenly he was punched in the jaw and knocked back about five feet. Despite feeling nothing from the punch it still was capable of throwing him oh so far. But Godspeed focused on one aspect of the hit. He was not injured, nor did he feel anything from it. "Damn…" He mumbled to himself. The man violently grabbed Godspeed and lifted him to his feet. "I guess it's my turn." Godspeed moved fast throwing a fast, powerful uppercut into the man's stomach launching him into the air over his house, clipping the chimney of a house behind them before he slid a small way down the asphalt.

Godspeed flashed in front of Henry in a crackle of golden electricity. "Oh, that's disappointing. Never take a punch like that before old man?" He taunted. "Looks like someone has forgotten that Speed is weight."

"Who… are you?" Henry Hart demanded

"The Name's Godspeed." He said. "I'm here for your title, Savitar."

* * *

 **Present Day**

Godspeed's focus came back he looked down at his hands. He was back in his cell, captured by Team Flash. Things have not gone as he had hoped, had they?

Despite everything all he really wanted was to feel again, but things were far more complicated than he initially understood. Not even the God of Speed seemed to be capable of lifting his curse. And if he couldn't do it who could?

"Hmm." He mumbled to himself. "I wonder what Team Flash is up to."

* * *

 **Cortex**

Up in the Cortex Team Flash had regathered following Barry's impromptu meeting with Dawn and Don regarding Caitlin's fate.

"Barry what's going on?" Iris asked

"According to Dawn and Don… now that Caitlin is missing… things are going to change, and not for the better." Barry said to the shock of the team.

"What?" Cisco asked "That… that cannot be true."

"It doesn't matter if its true or not." Dawn said "What matters is that the Future is shifting. Now that Dr. Snow is MIA things are most likely going to happen that should not happen for two decades."

"Such as?" Eddie questioned.

"The big one is Savitar's return." Don said. "In the original timeline Savitar returned in 2038, the same year that Dr. Snow…" He trails off not sure if he should finish his sentence.

"Basically Dr. Snow left the team." Dawn corrected. "Well, my brother and I are not quite sure when or why she left the team as it was before we were born but Savitar's return is heralded by Dr. Snow's death."

Every member of Team Flash was left completely stunned and completely speechless so Dawn had to continue.

"My brother and I believe, that it would be best if we find and bring Dr. Snow home."

"But… how?" Iris asked. "we've already established that we don't know where Caitlin was taken."

"True, we do not have an exact time but my brother and I have been thinking." She looked over to Barry. "Don and I are originally from the year 2044. That is also the year Godspeed should be from."

"I still don't see how this helps." Cisco said. "This is my best friend we are talking about. How do we find her?"

"By process of elimination." Dawn responded. "It might be best for us to locate the Legends. That way we can use Gideon to analyze multiple years at a time to locate Dr. Snow."

"And then what? We take the _Waverider_ to whenever she is and bring her home?"

"Yeah, pretty much." Don said while exchanging a look with his sister given how simple the plan was.

"Then let's get a message out to the Legends." Everyone gave Eddie their attention as he spoke. "They have a time ship so no matter when they recieve it they can arrive instantaneously."

"What about those other two?" Iris said "The ones with Oliver's team?"

"Are you talking about Robin and Bobbie?" Dawn asked. "They came here with us."

"Really? That seems awfully convenient." Cisco chimed in. "They were here helping us deal with Lightspeed."

"Yeah, we noticed." Don said "We had a pact to not get involved and only prevent any changes to the time line."

"Doesn't seem like it worked." Wally spoke. "I mean Godspeed and his Speed Legion have been causing us trouble for quite some time."

"Wait, Godspeed was actually working with people? That is very unlike him, especially with other speedsters."

"Yeah his MO is to cultivate them and then rob them of their connection to the Speed Force if not just outright taking it." Dawn added.

"Why?" Barry asked

"We're not really sure, but He's killed, by our estimate, hundreds of other Speedsters by 2044, Multiplying his connection to the Speed Force every time he kills a Speedster."

Everyone instinctively turned to the one camera they had showing Godspeed sitting in his cell looking into the Camera with a cocky smirk.

"He has the power of hundreds of Speedsters?" Iris asked "Is that even possible?

"Originally no, but Godspeed is proof that it can be done." Don replied "Though that does not change how dangerous it is. To be completely honest, Godspeed really should be dead after absorbing form any other speedster."

"But he's…" Dawn scrunched her face a bit. "how do you say, unique compared to all other speedsters."

"How so?"

The Tornado twins shrugged. "No one really knows. He simply is." Dawn continued. "No one has been able to harm him, ever."

Harry scoffed. "Everyone has a weakness."

"Not him." Don said looking at the screen. "I saw him once take a full body punch from Supergirl and Superman to the face. He brushed it off like nothing happened to him."

"Really?" Wally asked. "Supergirl was throwing around those Dominators like they were made of paper. There's someone out there who can take a hit from her?"

Dawn sort of scrunched her face. "You have no idea."

Iris said. "We really are going to need the help of Team Arrow, Supergirl and the Legends."

"Even with all of there we might still not have a chance. Not without Charlie…"

"Who's Charlie?" Joe asked

"Yeah, you guys mentioned him before." Wally noted

Dawn and Don exchanged an uneasy look. "Charlie was a member of Team Flash where we are from. Out of all of us on the team he was the only one who could go toe to toe with Godspeed despite not being a speedster."

"Was?" Barry asked

"Godspeed killed him." Don said. "Wrapped a chain around his neck and dragged him at high speed all over central city."

"Jesus." Joe exhaled.

"That's horrible…" Iris whispered.

"We couldn't even have a proper funeral." Don said. "It was so mutilated."

"Broke his mother's heart." Dawn said quietly. "Enough dwelling on the past. We need to get in touch with-" Dawn was cut off when the alarms began to blare. Team Flash immediately sprang into action with Cisco jumping on the nearby computers alongside Wally.

"What is it Cisco?" Wally asked.

"Proximity alert." The engineer said as he scanned the computer before smirking. "It's _The Waverider_! The Legends are here!"

"Speak of the devil."

* * *

This is the end of the chapter

Please tell me what you liked, didn't like, look forward to/think will happen, or your general thoughts and comments, this will help me make the story better; I'm a big boy so I can take criticism. And if you Review you get a Shout Out and questions answered either privately or in the next chapter.

I would normally say when I think the next chapter will come out but I haven't the slightest clue at this moment. So, we all shall be pleasantly surprised when it comes out.

Please share this with everyone you can via whatever platform of social media you want. I would love it if the whole fandom got to enjoy this story and not just the one on fanfiction.

Have a Fantastic day


	32. Among Giants

**Disclaimer:** The following is a nonprofit Fan based story; The FLASH and all related characters are owned by DC comics, the CW and anyone I may have missed.

Jeeze this took forever for me to write. At this point I have not been able to keep a tight schedule regarding writing and my job. So even though this story is almost complete I have no clue when that will be.

Well, all I can really say is Thanks to all of you who reviewed, favorited and or followed this story. Your patience will be rewarded.

Now that I have kept you all waiting here's chapter 31.

I apologize in advance for any spelling and grammar mistakes. Also any discrepancies in continuity, like I said this was tough to write and my computer liked to do random updates when I was in the middle of something.

* * *

 _The Flash: Survival of the Fastest_

Chapter 31: Among Giants

* * *

 **August 23, 2036**

 **Somewhere in Central City**

Savitar was breathing heavily as he walked away from the deceased body of his attacker. The simple life he took up with Frost had made him grow soft and rusty. It was a tough fight, more-so than he anticipated. It reminded him of the beating he took from his first fight with Zoom so many years ago when he was Barry Allen.

It took him only a moment to use his speed to return to his home. Despite living so far off the grid that not even Brainiac 5 could locate them, the man who attacked him at his home somehow knew where to find them and even more so who he was. And he gave Savitar the impression that he would be back and he left him with a feeling no god should ever feel, fear.

" _ **This ends here."**_ _Savitar extended one of his cold metal blades and shoved it through The white speedster's heart leaving the other speedster at a loss for words. The white speedster smirked beneath his mask._

" _Not bad." He said completely unimpeded by the blade protruding from his chest. "But not good enough." He vibrated his body and phased through Savitar freeing himself. "Throw whatever you can at me, I'll just keep coming. Between the two of us only one of us will give out, so before I end this fight, I want you to know one thing Savitar," He leaned right into Savitar's metallic helm. "I don't feel any of this. There's nothing you can do to stop me!" Before he could do anything else, he felt Savitar's large metallic arm wrap around his neck and all the white speedster felt after that was the world going black as his windpipe was crushed._

 _Savitar left the unresponsive body right there._

The God of Speed needed to get his wife and daughter somewhere safe.

"Savitar!" Frost embraced him the moment he walked through the door. "Oh god… you're hurt!" She allowed her hands to freely trace the forming bruises and cuts adorning his face as some of them healed in front of her.

"I'm fine." He breathed out. "We need to leave…"

"Leave?" Frost was confused. "Why do we need to leave? Who was that man?"

"I don't know." Savitar replied. "But we're not safe here…"

"Ok… but… where will we go?" Frost asked. "What about Samantha? She has all of her friends at school."

Savitar sighed. He did not know what to do. "She can keep going. But we need to move to one of the safehouses."

"Ok…" Frost said sadly. "When?'

"Now." He said simply. Frost nodded. And immediately went to pack for herself and Samantha.

* * *

 **Present Day**

 **S.T.A.R. Labs**

"Thank God you guys are here!" Cisco said as he high-fived Ray and then Nate in rapid succession.

"Well, we came as soon as we got your message." Ray answered.

"Message?" Barry asked "We hadn't sent you any message. Not yet anyway."

"You guys sent us a distress signal." Amaya said. "Something about two rouge speedsters?"

"Of course, they are time travelers. Always causing anachronisms." Sara groaned before looking at Wally. "You guys can't not travel through time, can you?"

"Don't look at me." Wally defended himself. "I'm the only speedster who hasn't traveled through time."

"Well, you guys did send us a message." Sara said taking command. "Got it right here."

" _Hi guys!"_ Cisco's voice came over the speakers. " _Sorry to bother you guys but we could really use your help. Long story short a speedster from the future named Ben cam to ask for our help dealing with two psychopath speedsters named Godspeed and Speed Demon. They're both apparently from the future and out for blood. Ben has a plan to stop them but it will require all of us. Barry and Wally are heading out to recruit Supergirl, Jessie and Jay. Come to the time of this recording."_

"I didn't send that message." Cisco said defensively when all of Team Flash looked in his direction.

"You sure?" Nate asked "You sent this to us last week. Dated October 6th. "

Team Flash exchanged looks. "October 6th? Last Week?" Eddie said "You guys do realize its March right?"

Now it was the Legend's turn to be confused. "That's impossible. Gideon brought us to Central City October 2017." Ray spoke.

Team Flash shook their heads. "Its March 2018."

"We should ask Gideon." Zari said.

"Yeah, leave it to the computer to screw up our destination." Mick said as he took a swing from a beer. "Wouldn't be the first time."

"Time travel is confusing." Cisco rubbed his forehead.

"Tell me about it." Ray added. "We met me as a kid and it totally had no negative consequences."

"Actually, that anachronism you guys mentioned…" Everyone turned to Dawn and Don. "That might be us."

"Who're the runts?" Mick asked.

"Uh everyone… this is Dawn and Don West-Allen." Iris introduced.

"West-Allen? Like…?" Zari looked confused.

"They're mine and Barry's kids." Iris said "From the future."

"That explains the anachronism." Jax whispered to Professor Stein. "Allen's family has been messing with time more than us."

"And we have made some big messes." Ronnie added.

Anyway" Sara said reestablishing her command. "You two shouldn't be here." She said to Don and Dawn.

"We know." Don said "But we didn't have a choice."

"We weren't trying to come here, it just, sort of happened, and now? Now were kind of stuck."

"So, another mess we need to clean up." Sara muttered. "But back to the matter at hand, how can we help?"

"Where's Caitlin?" Ronnie said noticing Dr. Snow was not among the team. He definitely noticed the looks that Team Flash shared.

"That's why we were going to contact you guys." Barry said. "We need your help right now to save Caitlin."

"What happened?" Sara asked

"She was kidnapped, by a speedster from the future." Barry said. "We don't know where he took her."

"Does this speedster have a name?" Amya asked.

"Speed Demon." Barry said.

"Never heard of him." Sara said bluntly.

"He'd be from 2043." Dawn answered. "At least that's when we first heard rumors about him."

"OK, let's counsel Gideon." Nate said.

* * *

 **May 24, 2044**

 **Central City**

The Meta-human known as Colossus smirked to himself as he strode through Central City clutching an entire bank vault in his right hand. It has been quite easy for him to steal from Banks when he stands at nearly twenty meters tall. He effortlessly tore the roof off of the bank and plucked out the entire vault.

He ignored everything around him as he made his escape. Cars veered out of his way or they were crushed. People scrambled. And the police could do nothing as their bullets ricocheted harmlessly off of his bronze skin.

Charlie slid to a stop on his right foot about thirty meters from Colossus. His crimson armor shined in the sunlight. he threw his hands forward and a dozen or so tendrils of lightning came flying out wrapping around everyone in Colossus' path. In a fluid motion Charlie had pulled everyone to safety. "Yo! Rhodes!" He called out to the massive humanoid.

"You!" Colossus growled. He raised his foot and stomped it down on Charlie, except he did not. Charlie was holding back the bronze giant's foot despite the ground cracking beneath him. With a grunt of effort Charlie pushed back, hard. Colossus felt gravity take a hold as he fell backward landing on the ground unleashed a miniature earthquake.

Colossus began to push himself back up when he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. He did not get the chance to react as Charlie connected his fist with his jaw indenting his face. Colossus lost consciousness as he fell to the ground. As he fell his powers deactivated and he shrank to his normal human size. Charlie cracked his neck and knuckles as Colossus struggled to get back to his feet.

Back at STAR Labs Caitlin stepped out of the Medical Lab, she found herself in the cortex. Everything was running, indicating it was still in use. Or at least it seemed as if everything was still being used. She turned to the small alcove and mannequin that housed Barry's suit. All that was there was an object covered by a dark brown cloth.

Caitlin felt herself move towards the cloth reaching out to touch it. She could feel the dust; this cloth had been there for quite some time. She wanted to remove it but something inside her told her not to, as if it would disturb someone's resting place.

"I see you noticed our memorial for the Flash." Jennifer said.

"Memorial?"

"Yeah… the Flash hung up his cowl several years ago." Jen said. "He… he needed to step down."

"What Happened?" Jen turned away. "That's not my place to say. I don't really want to screw with Time any more than I already have."

Caitlin looked at Jen quizzically. "You mean aside from kidnapping me?"

"Yeah… something like that." Caitlin could tell Jen was not going to tell her everything. So instead she turned her attention to the monitor patched into a local news chopper who was hovering over Charlie and Colossus.

Colossus grabbed a chunk of concrete and threw it at Charlie who caught it and threw it back as if the two of them were actually playing catch rather than a fight. He followed it up by throwing a bolt of lightning

Caitlin watched the video feed with baited breath as Charlie charged the collapsed Colossus. Seeing Charlie's suit reminded Caitlin heavily of Savitar, except Charlie's suit was much slimmer and red. The only similarity between him and Savitar had to be the glowing blue accents at his joints and the lightning bolt on his chest.

"How is he that strong?" She asked herself though her question did attract the attention of Jen and Johnny. His movements were all to familiar for a speedster but his strength, that was something she had never seen before.

"Oh, that's a tale in and of itself." The head said excitedly. "See it begins with Savitar-"

"Shut it head." Jen fired off angrily.

Hearing Savitar's name again sent a shiver down Caitlin's spine. But seeing as how Jen was not going to elaborate, she'd have to accept that she might never know what Savitar did to Charlie. Caitlin turned away from Jen and the arguing head to the monitor where she saw Charlie slap a pair of meta-cuffs on Colossus while he was in human form and pass him off to the police. He ran out of the camera frame and was back in the S.T.A.R. Labs Cortex.

Caitlin watched with interest as Charlie's armored suit dematerialized right in front of her. It looked like it seeped into his skin or maybe his belt. "How?"

"Trick of the trade Dr. Snow." Charlie answered with a smile as he sat on the edge of the table next to Caitlin. "Maybe down the road I'll teach you some of my tricks."

Caitlin looked up at Charlie and really got a good look at him thanks to her speed. She analyzed every feature of his face, a face that, aside from the pale skin, looked like the perfect blend of her and Barry. He had her nose, chin, cheeks and eyes along Barry's eyes, smile, and hairstyle and her color. To be entirely honest with herself it freaked her out.

"Dr. Snow?" Charlie asked but Caitlin ignored him, instead she took off with her speed.

* * *

 **Present Day**

 _Waverider_

"Alright Gideon, bring up everything about A speedster known as Speed Demon." Sara said as and a good portion of Team Flash and the Legends gathered around _The Waivrider_ 's central console.

- **Certainly Captain Lance.-** The holographic computer responded. Moments later multiple digital articles were being projected. The articles had a massive variety of information as well as images of the demonic speedster. There was just one major hiccup with all these articles, they ranged in age with one of them referencing a cave painting of the black speedster and another one was from the year 3105. - **There are over 2.5 million different references to a speedster known as Speed Demon.  
**

Ray began to analyzed the articles. "How do we narrow this down?"

"Gideon, can you search the period of 2018 to 2048?Oh, and include anything that mentions The Flash or Godspeed." Don inquired. "It's easier to search through thirty years rather than over 100 thousand."

- **Of course-** The search results instantly narrowed down to half a dozen articles, all of them fell in the range of 2018 to 2048.

"Why this period of time?" Professor Stein asked.

"It's where we are from." Dawn answered. "Both Speed Demon and Godspeed overlapped for a brief period of time and there is definitely some animosity between the two."

"Still got five years to cover." Cisco noted.

"Yeah, but the oldest of these articles is from this year." Ronnie argued. "Could he have taken Caitlin just somewhere else rather than a different time?"

- **Unlikely Mr. Raymond. According to every record of this Speed Demon he cannot remain in a time period that is not his own. Every where he shows up he is gone exactly ten seconds later. Except for one -**

"When?" Barry asked

- **The year of 2042 has the most frequent sights of Speed Demon and Godspeed. After that Speed Demon is mentioned sporadically through put the remaining years in this period.-**

 **"** 2043\. Sounds like our go to date." Sara affirmed.

"No, it's not." Dawn said. "We were around at that time, We cannot go to that point in time."

"Damn it!" Barry groaned in frustration. "If only we had more information about where he took Caitlin..." Suddenly Barry got a thought. "Wait here." He said. before anyone could react Barry was back with a small black object.

"What's that?" Zari asked

Don looked over to Dawn wondering the same thing but his twin looked at him with an equally confused look. Even though she knew what it was.

"Gideon" Barry ignored the hundred or so questions being thrown his way. "Can you tell us when this video was created?"

 **-Certainly Mr. Allen. The video file was created May 31 2044-**

"Then that is where we need to go." Barry said. "Gear up everyone."

"We can't go!" Dawn said suddenly earning the looks of everyone around her. "We can't go, not yet at least."

"What do you mean?" Ronnie asked. Even though he and Caitlin had a mutual ending to their relationship he still had feelings for her, but really all he wanted was to make her happy. "We know where Caitlin is, let's go save her."

"Agreed." Cisco said.

"Look, we are in no shape to fight Speed Demon." Don picked up for his sister. "Last time you fought him..." He paused briefly thinking to that night. The image of the monstrous speedster standing over the broken bodies of some of the bravest and mightiest heroes on Earth-1 and on Earth-38. Supergirl had two burned holes where her eyes were, Black Siren had a black and purple neck, Oliver was laying ten feet away missing his right arm, and Barry was being held by the back of his neck, both of his legs were bent at odd angles. The only silver lining was that all of them were still breathing. "Last time, Speed demon broke all of you. He forced you all to hang up the capes and cowls."

"We can't just leave her there!" Barry argued.

"And we won't. But we need to be smart about this." Dawn argued. "Like we need Plans A through Z that incorporate everyone. and when we say everyone we mean, everyone."

"Then what's our game plan Ms. West-Allen?" Professor Stein inquired.

"We need to gather everyone. All of Team Arrow, All of the Legends, All of Team Flash, and even team Supergirl. Just wish Dreamer was a part of the team but times are tough."

"Dreamer?" Amaya asked.

"We tried using her abilities to get the drop on Speed Demon but he had a work around. He put her in a coma. The irony being its a dreamless sleep." Dawn looked down saddened by the memory. "Too many good heroes fell to Speed Demon. He's the one villian who no one can stop."

"We've done the impossible before." Ray said. "who's up to do it again."

"Well, I for one, am Always up to beat the odds." Nate said with a smirk.

"So we need to gather everyone." Barry affirmed. "Then we need to divide to gather the teams."

"Agreed." Sara said.

"Guess I'll run over to Star City. Get Oliver and his team." Wally said.

"Mick, go with Wally. And take the Jumpship. We need everyone back here ASAP."

Got it Captain." Mick said before taking a swing of beer. "Alright yellow, you're with me."

Wally shared a confused look with the rest of the heroes. 'Yellow?' he mouthed.

"Cisco can you breech over to Earth-38 and get Kara?" Barry asked his best friend.

"Will do buddy." Cisco said."I'll even grab Gypsy."

"We'll come with." Ray spoke up volunteering himself and Zari.

"Alright, everyone else. Get ready. We're out of here in a hour."

* * *

 **May 24, 2044**

In a crackle of lightning Caitlin was standing at the door to the loft she shared with Barry. She stood there for quite a while trying to figure out how to get inside as she had no key on her person, and she doubted the neighbors still had the spare. On top of all that she wasn't sure what she would find on the other side of the door. Would Barry be there? Would a completely different couple be there? There was no way to tell.

Without breaking a step Caitlin took a deep breath and phased through the door into the apartment. The loft was quiet. The furniture was covered in cloths and a layer of dust. "What happened here?" She asked aloud. As she slowly stepped through the loft.

This apartment hadn't been touched in years if the state of affairs was to be believed. There were many photos of her and Barry, in addition to some photos with an assortment of their friends and family but they were all covered in dust. Her feet eventually led her to what appeared to be her and Barry's old bedroom, untouched for years. If this was the future, then what happened to Barry? After exploring the bedroom and finding nothing she sighed and made her way back to the living room. There was nothing for her here, she might as well head back to S.T.A.R. Labs.

Suddenly an icicle pierced her through her shoulder much to her surprise. She gripped the icicle and immediately felt like her skin was on fire so she released the icicle.

- **Target Acquired-** A cold almost metallic voice spoke. She looked up to see her attacker. It was Godspeed.

Despite looking like Godspeed something was off about him. And it wasn't just the difference in his suit. While it was still the fearsome white suit he wore a pair of large gauntlets each with three pronged fingers and an additional mechanical piece running from the elbow to a large dark metaled backpack. The 'Backpack' was supported by a piece of chest armor etching with a swirl symbol in the center of the chest. Each leg was covered with a large mechanical looking boot with six exhaust ports flanking it looking like an industrial version of the mythological boots of Hermes. He also wore what looked like a specially molded piece of metal on the outside of his white cowl where his mouth would be. Each piece of dark green machinery clashed with the white of the underlying suit.

- **Mission: Capture Speed Force-** He spoke in a methodical, emotionless voice, not robotic, just emotionless. He extended his right hand and spread the three prongs unveiling a strange contraption in the palm of the gauntlet, a contraption Caitlin recognized as being similar to the Cold Gun. She quickly ran out of the way just as a dozen or so high velocity icicles launched and impaled the sofa where she was just standing.

Caitlin was leaving the front of the apartment complex when 'Godspeed' dropped out of the sky and landed right in front of her.

"Oh no…" She whispered to herself. Caitlin froze in fright as Godspeed approached her, or at least she thought it was Godspeed until she heard him speak. She clutched her shoulder in paid still feeling the warm blood seeping from the wound. It should have started to heal by now, there must be something off about the icicle that had pierced her.

- **Parameters Adjusted.** **Terminate Speed Force Conduit-** It was about to fire again when a chain wreathed in flame wrapped around Godspeed and engulfed her attacker in flames before he was hurtled into a wall.

The chain snapped back and seemed to wrap around the wrist of her savior. There was an intense heat coming off of him, so intense she had to squint to recognize him as Charlie.

The wall began to shift and Caitlin watched as 'Godspeed' got back to his feet. His white suit was in tatters and underneath was a mass of scorched skin and metal, like something out of a _Terminator_ movie. - **Terminate-** It raised its colossal gauntlets and fired a slew of icicles coated in lightning.

Charlie's eyes glowed red and merely tilted his head to the right avoiding the first icicle, dipped his right shoulder to avoid the second before returning to his initial position to allow the third icicle to fly harmlessly by him. His movements were fluid as he effortlessly dodged the projectiles before his eyes reverted to normal.

"Too slow…" He clenched his left fist and Caitlin noticed a chain wrapped around that forearm. The arm began to vibrate and the chain quickly became white-hot before his arm began to give off smoke. He vanished from view as the remainder of the icicles impaled the air where he was previously standing. The next thing Caitlin saw was the Terminator-Godspeed being clocked in the face so hard its bottom jaw came flying off as his head was buried in the pavement.

Thunder roared, shattering all the nearby glass, and the ground beneath the Terminator-Godspeed cratered. It twitched uncontrollably as lightning arced all over its body seemingly originating from the now damaged backpack contraption.

A moment later Caitlin felt herself get scooped up by Charlie as he carried her a safe distance away and the Robo-Godspeed exploded in a vicious inferno of fire, smoke electricity and scrap metal.

"You OK?" Charlie asked.

"Yeah…" Caitlin breathed out. "What was that thing?"

"Nothing to be worried about. Just a Speed Force harvesting cyborg cooked up by our friends at Black Hole."

"Black Hole?" the name sounded familiar to Caitlin. She couldn't quite pinpoint where she had heard it.

"It's kind of why I wanted you to stay in S.T.A.R. Labs." A moment later the two were back in S.T.A.R. labs with Charlie gently placing the pregnant Doctor onto her bed. "Though few in number, they still reactivate from time to time searching out Speedsters to drain."

"Do you mind me asking you something?" Caitlin asked Charlie.

"Go ahead I am an open book, for the most part."

"What you did against that thing… I've never seen a speedster do the things you can do. You seem implausibly strong on top of your speed" She inquired. "How is that possible? You are a speedster, right?"

"Well," The young man scrunched his face. "My strength, that comes from my dad, I actually got my speed after. In a way I am not a natural speedster, in that I wasn't born with it, nor was I struck by lightning… I mean there were times where I was hit with lightning, but I never came away from any of those with super speed."

"How?" Dr. Snow was quite intrigued how a meta-human with super-strength could also get super-speed. "

"That…" Charlie paused for a moment thinking back to the day he had acquired his speed. _"Why!?"_ The strained voice of an older man pleaded in his mind. " _Why do you care so much about them? they owe you nothing!"_ " _This cycle ends here."_ Charlie remembered his father's mantra echoed in his mind. " _We must be better than this."_ "I don't really like talking about how I got my speed. It's not exactly a happy memory."

"I understand…" Caitlin looked away slightly disappointed.

"Maybe some day I'll tell you. But for now, I'm going to leave you in suspense." Charlie offered Caitlin a smile before leaving her alone.

He walked down the hall but didn't get too far before someone else asked him a question. " _ **What's it like**_?" Charlie stopped. " _ **Spending time with the illustrious Dr. Caitlin Snow MD**_?" The voice was cold, almost demonic in tone, yet carried an underlying gentleness to it. Charlie knew exactly where it was coming from. He rolled his eyes.

"Meeting her changes nothing Grave Runner." Charlie said. "I know what we need to do."

" _ **And when the time comes will you be able to do it**_?"

"Why the constant need to play the pronoun game?" Charlie asked. "It's not like anyone else can hear you anyway."

" _ **True**_ _."_ Grave Runner said. " _ **Still, you do realize that if we succeed we will no longer exist, right** **? I wonder how our parents will react to the plan.**_ "

Charlie stopped. "I like to think they are proud of the man we became, but we are going to finish this how we started, together."

* * *

 **August 23 2038**

 **Heart Residence, Central City**

Samantha's eyes fluttered open from her deep sleep when she heard the thunder. Like any young girl the sound of thunder frightened her. She rubbed her eyes and sat up. Without so much of a word she made her way towards her parents' room.

"Mommy?" She knocked on the door which opened as she knocked. She peered inside only to see the room was dark and the bed was still made, indicating her parents had not gone to bed yet. Every time Samantha got frightened, she would always seek comfort. The sound of glass breaking drew her attention to the stairs where she saw flickering lights. "Mommy?" She asked as she slowly walked down the stairs.

More thunder boomed as she walked down the stairs. Flashes of gold and white illuminated the dark house until she reached the living room where there was a gold and white tornado surrounding her mother.

"MOMMY!" Samantha screamed for her mom but she was filled with fear she couldn't bring herself to get any closer. Her mother seemed to be wearing some strange collar around her neck. She was clawing at it with her hands desperate to remove it.

"SAVITAR!" Frost screamed to the tornado of lighting around her. Gold and White lightning flashed in the vortex with brief hints of a man in a white suit and a large metallic being. That was when she noticed her daughter looking on in fear. "SAM! BABY, RUN!"

"MOMMY!" Samantha cried out to her mother despite her voice being drowned by the thunder and lightning.

Savitar noticed his daughter entering the room. He could read the fear painted on her face, it was eerily similar to the look he held on that faithful night when his mother was murdered. He was not going to let his daughter grow up without a mother.

Unfortunately, Godspeed also noticed little Samantha. He cracked a maddening grin beneath his mask. In the blink of an eye there were suddenly two Godspeeds, each one running towards a different target, one ran at Frost and the other ran at Samantha, and for that split moment Savitar did not know what to do. The sudden appearance of another Godspeed to divide his attention was not something the God of Speed was prepared for. Sure, he had murdered many of his Time remnant brethren when he and Barry fought but they did not divide his attention like this.

Despite not knowing what to do Savitar allowed his body to make the split-second decision for him. He moved ever so closely towards his wife "SAMMY! RUN!" He screamed out towards his daughter. He knew she had a connection to the Speed Force and for the first time in forever he had faith that her powers would awaken. Unfortunately, his faith was misplaced.

"DADDY!" She screamed in fright but she never got to say another word as she vanished in a flurry of golden lightning.

"SAM!" the young girl's mother yelled in desperation as she saw her daughter vanish before her eyes.

" _ **What did you do**_!?" Savitar screamed as he pinned their attacker to a wall. " _ **WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY DAUGHTER**_!?" He roared with such fury

The white speedster chuckled. " _ **Didn't I tell you Savitar,**_ _**I won't stop until everything has been taken from you**_." Savitar threw him across the room, smashing him into the small end table.

" _ **WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY DAUGHTER**_?" His furry grew with each blow he delivered.

Godspeed threw the god of speed off of himself and turned to Savitar's wife.

Savitar moved with greater speed wrapping his cold metallic arms around the white speedster and spinning him around. He wrapped his left metallic claw around Godspeed's neck while he extended his wrist blade but Godspeed caught his whole arm and held the blade back, an inch from his chest. It was light he could not feel the immense weight pressing down on him from the hulking speedster.

" _ **This ends Now!"**_ The God of Speed said " _ **I killed you all those years ago. I have no qualms with doing it again**_!"

"I thought I made it perfectly clear Savitar. Nothing you do can hurt me." Godspeed fired back. "You dropped a building on to of me but as you can see I felt nothing."

" _ **Before I kill you, let's see who's behind the mask."**_ With his free hand Savitar reached out and grabbed Godspeed's entire mask before tearing it from his face. What he was met with rocked him.

Godspeed's face was the perfect blend of both him and Frost. Her nose, chin, cheeks and eyes along his mouth, and hairstyle and her hair color.

"You've sealed her fate." He said with venom as his body suddenly began to turn into golden energy. Godspeed slid his body out of the way while simultaneously pulling Savitar's arm forward. In that moment the resistance holding back Savitar's blade was gone and the God of speed felt himself move forward much to his horror. His world slowed down, but there was nothing he could do to stop his forward momentum which carried him towards his wife. Pure dread plastered itself across the face beneath the metallic suit.

Godspeed smirked before completely turning into golden energy and dissipating in that moment leaving Savitar with a haunting image of his smile.

The next thing Savitar knew his blade met the resistance he dreaded.

The world all but stopped while he opened his mouth to wail her name and his blade pierced into her chest. "NO! NO! CAITLIN!" His own voice sounded far away. The blade protruding from his wrist continued forward and through his wife's chest. The look on his wife's face absolutely broke him. He could see the light leave her blue eyes as they turned that warm familiar brown he hadn't seen in years. "AAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" he screamed in agony as tears fell freely from his eyes.

"GET AWAY FROM HER!" Savitar didn't have a chance to react as he was thrown off of Caitlin. The God of speed regained his footing in time to see the one person he never expected.

Kneeling and cradling Savitar's wife was none other than the Flash, Barry Allen.

* * *

This is the end of the chapter

The picture I can give you all for Charlie's suit is the Red Ranger suit from the 2017 Power Rangers Movie.

Please tell me what you liked, didn't like, look forward to/think will happen, or your general thoughts and comments, this will help me make the story better; I'm a big boy so I can take criticism. And if you Review you get a Shout Out and questions answered either privately or in the next chapter.

I would normally say when I think the next chapter will come out but I haven't the slightest clue at this moment. So, we all shall be pleasantly surprised when it comes out.

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Have a Fantastic day


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